A method was developed for coating metal oxide nanoparticles with electrically conductive polymers for the purpose of static dissipation.  A variety of sonication conditions were evaluated to disperse CuO nanoparticles; a Brownian motion microscope was used to determine efficacy of sonication parameters. Monomers including pyrrole, 2,2'-bithiophene, 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT),  and 3-hexylthiophene were oxidatively polymerized in the presence of suspensions of copper oxide(CuO) nanoparticles using ferric chloride as the oxidant. Early attempts to coat bare CuO nanoparticles revealed that the polymers did not adhere to the CuO, necessitating the need for a surface modification prior to polymerization.  After surface modification, polymerization yielded uniform coatings as verified using scanning electron microscopy. These samples were pressed into pellets for four point probe conductivity measurements; 10wt% PEDOT samples exhibited much greater conductivity than other polymer-coated nanoparticles.

Conducting polymer coatings for metal oxide nanoparticles

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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