Conserved electrochemomechanical activities of polypyrrole film in complex buffer media

Electrochemomechanical deformation (ECMD) of polypyrrole (PPy) film electrodeposited in p-phenol sulfonate (PPS) has been investigated by means of direct measurement of electrochemomechanical deformation with cyclic voltammetry in a special electrochemical cell and laser displacement meter. Quantitative evaluation of deformation magnitude in various electrolytic media such as simple salts, simple buffers and complex buffers have been performed. Correlation between deformation magnitude and NaCl concentration has revealed that PPS doped polypyrrole shows appreciable anodic expansive performance in the dynamic concentration range from 0.005 to 1 M having maximum magnitude of 2.6% in 1.0 M NaCl. Our results indicate that polypyrrole film deforming as soft actuator operates successfully in simple as well as complex electrolytic media without appreciable loss in deformation magnitude as well as electrochemical activity. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.