http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/individuo/prodotto/ID191013

Morphological characterization of innovative electroconductive polymers in early stages of growth (Articolo in rivista)

Type

Articolo in rivista (Classe)
Prodotto della ricerca (Classe)

Label

Morphological characterization of innovative electroconductive polymers in early stages of growth (Articolo in rivista) (literal)

Anno

2012-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 (literal)

Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#doi

10.1016/j.surfcoat.2012.07.029 (literal)

Alternative label

Giovanni Longo, Giuliano Pompeo, Judith Serra Moreno, Stefania Panero, Marco Girasole, Fabio Ronci, Antonio Cricenti (2012)
Morphological characterization of innovative electroconductive polymers in early stages of growth
in Surface & coatings technology; Elsevier Science SA, Lausanne (Svizzera)
(literal)

Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#autori

Giovanni Longo, Giuliano Pompeo, Judith Serra Moreno, Stefania Panero, Marco Girasole, Fabio Ronci, Antonio Cricenti (literal)

Pagina inizio

286 (literal)

Pagina fine

292 (literal)

Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#numeroVolume

207 (literal)

Rivista

Surface & coatings technology (Rivista)

Note

ISI Web of Science (WOS) (literal)

Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#affiliazioni

Istituto di Struttura della Materia, CNR, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Roma \"La Sapienza\", Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy (literal)

Titolo

Morphological characterization of innovative electroconductive polymers in early stages of growth (literal)

Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy), one of the most studied conducting polymers due to its ease of preparation and its interesting properties, is nowadays involved in a wide range of applications. Among the available techniques to realize PPy thin films, electrochemical polymerization allows an optimal control of the synthesis and a fine-tuning of the resulting properties. Electrodepositions of PPy are carried out using proper anions (doping anions). that are immobilized by the new-made polycationic PPy chains, in order to achieve electroneutrality. Small inorganic anions are usually used (such as perchlorate), but a new class of large organic dopants (i.e. heparin) is emerging, due their ability to confer to the final product a series of attractive properties, the most important being biocompatibility. When dealing with biomaterials, other important characteristics must be taken into account to ensure good properties to the final product. In particular, the control of surface morphology is of great importance for cellular adhesion and growth. In this work, we characterized in detail the morphology of two PPy-based thin films (synthesized with heparin and perchlorate as doping anions) grown on ITO substrates that are used as cell growth supports. In order to determine the dynamics of the deposition of these films, we followed their growth since the very first instants of deposition. Indeed, during these first steps, the film will deposit directly over the bare electrode, influencing the morphology of the growth and allowing comparing the growth dynamics of films produced using different synthesis conditions. We determined the features of these growing polymeric thin films at nanometer level using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), which is the ideal technique to image the real 3D structure of the surface of such specimens. In both cases, the PPy film was formed by an array of grains measuring tens of nanometers, but significant differences in grain size and arrangement on the substrate were observed. Mainly, PPy-heparin film appears to be formed by ordered superimposed layers of grains whose size distribution is peaked around a mean value, while PPy-perchlorate nuclei are arranged in a more disordered way on the substrate and do not have a preferred dimension. The presented results emphasize the importance of the investigation of the polymerization dynamics, especially in the first steps of the deposition, in this class of innovative and technologically relevant materials, and represent an optimal starting point to realize a study, combining AFM and electrochemical techniques. to characterize in detail the PPy mechanism of nucleation and growth. (literal)

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