Ferromagnetic conductive polypyrrole doped with water-soluble ferrocene derivative

In this paper, we report synthesis and characterization of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with a new water-soluble ferrocene derivative of p-ferrocenyl benzene sulfonic acid (BSAFc). The ferromagnetic conductive PPy powder was obtained by chemical polymerization. XPS and FT-IR were used to clarify the structure of PPy powder and confirm the existence of ferrocene group in the PPy powder. A complete understanding of the electronic structure of iron in PPy powder was achieved by Mössbauer spectrum measured at room temperature, which indicates that 57Fe in the PPy powder is in the low-spin electronic structure of trivalence. The PPy powder exhibited an electrical conductivity of about 100 S/cm at room temperature, a coercive force of 20 Oe and saturation magnetization of 1.76 emu/g at low temperature of 1.8 K. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the PPy powder had the same thermostability as normal PPy. The electro-active PPy freestanding film was also synthesized by doping with the new water-soluble ferrocene derivative via electrochemical polymerization, which is significant for developing the application of the PPy film in secondary battery, membrane electrode and so on.