Conductivity and long term stability of polypyrrole poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) core–shell particles at different polypyrrole loadings

•Polypyrrole coated latex were prepared.•Time-dependent conductivity was studied.•Composites conductivity depends on chain conjugation length and not on doping level.

Conductive core–shell particles were obtained by chemical polymerization of pyrrole over monodisperse poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) particles. The surface composition has been studied by elemental analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques. XPS, elemental analysis and FTIR results allowed determining doping level and conjugation length of the polypyrrole (PPy) chain deposited on the latex surface. It is shown that the chain conjugation length, and not the doping level, is the principal factor that influences the conductivity. Samples with low PPy loading have short conjugation length and so low conductivity independently of their doping level. The experimental conductivity decay with time has been analysed following the electron hopping model, from this model the characteristic time (τ) of the conductivity degradation process has been determined.