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.