In situ AFM Study of the Electropolymerization of Polypyrrole/Gold Nanocomposite

Abstract

In this work, an electrochemical cell was designed and fabricated for in situ AFM study of the electropolymerization process of PPY in the presence of gold nanoparticles. PPY/Au nanocomposite was one step-synthesized simply by the potentiostatic deposition at constant potential. Based on the results of the current-time transient (I-t) measurements and in situ AFM measurements, it was found that the nucleation and growth of PPY/Au nanocomposite was an instantaneous three-dimension progress after nuclei overlapping. Regarding the process before nuclei overlapping, compared with that of pure PPY, it departed from the instantaneous three-dimension progress because of the presence of gold nanoparticles.