Electrical properties of a single electrochemically template-synthesized polypyrrole nanowire

The electrical properties of a single conducting polypyrrole nanowire, template-synthesized by electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole, were directly measured by the four-terminal technique. Two pairs of microelectrodes were deposited by the focused ion beam system. It is found that the resistivity of the measured nanowire lies in the insulating regime and it follows the one-dimensional Mott variable range hopping model in the temperature range of 77-300 K. The conductivity of several segments of another single polypyrrole nanowire was also measured by a multiterminal configuration at room temperature, and it is found that the conductivity is not uniform even on the same nanowire. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.