Preparation of Microfiber and Smooth Film Conducting Polymer Electrodes

Abstract

As part of a long-range effort involving the design and fabrication of electrodes for in vivo use, we describe herein a method for the production of conducting polymer fibers with diameters on the order of a few micrometers. This method has been shown to be applicable to several different combinations of monomers pyrrole, N-methylpyrrole, 3-methylthiophene, poly3,4-ethylene diox- ythiophene, deposition substrates Pt, stainless steel, and dopant ions dodecyl benzene sulfonate, perchlorate, chloride, poly- methylmethacrylate. Cyclic voltammetric characterization shows that the background current is minimal, and normal behavior is seen for the ferri/ferrocyanide couple with the exception of a slightly increased peak separation. An ancillary benefit of these studies is the production of extremely smooth films of these polymers, even in cases where the films are up to 20 m thick. © 2009 The Electrochemical Society. DOI: