Electrochemical deposition of polypyrrole nanolayers on discontinuous ultrathin gold films

Ultrathin layers of polypyrrole (PPy) were electrochemically grown between microelectrodes on a Si/SiO₂ substrate. Conducting nanolayers of PPy are directly grown onto ultrathin discontinuous gold (Au) film between the microelectrodes, with thicknesses in the range 10-100 nm. The system therefore forms a novel (PPy/Au) nanocomposite conductor. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging and conductivity measurements indicate that at all thicknesses a relatively uniform film is formed but with significant roughness that reflects the roughness of the metallic island layer. In PPy/Au films with thickness ∼10 nm, the small barriers around the gold islands dominate the conduction, and as the film thickness increases to 100 nm the intrinsic conductivity of highly doped PPy dominates the charge transport.