Role of stilbene-triazine sulfonic acid sodium salts in tuning electro-conductivity of polypyrrole-paper composites

Electro-conductive paper-based products can suit the needs of various end-use applications, e.g., antenna and energy-storage devices. Here, the concept of using stilbene-triazine sulfonic acid sodium salts (STAS) as dopants for enhancing the conductivity of polypyrrole-paper composites and mitigating the decay of conductivity was demonstrated. Noticeably, the combined use of hexa-sulfonic STAS and 9,10-anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid sodium salt (AQSAS) as dopants delivered significant enhancement of conductivity. Meanwhile, the decay of conductivity during storage was substantially mitigated. Moreover, the effectiveness of hexa-sulfonic STAS was much more pronounced than the other two types of STAS, i.e., di-sulfonic STAS and tetra-sulfonic STAS.