Chemistry Letters, Vol.30, No.8, 816-817, 2001
Self-formation and anisotropic electrical conduction of polypyrrole-microtubes
Spontaneous appearance of polypyrrole microtubes was first observed during the electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole in water using sodium p-toluenesulfonate as a supporting salt. Almost amorphous microtube showed high electrical conductivity (sigma = 498 S cm(-1)) along an axis of the tube. The tube also revealed extremely high anisotropy in the electrical conductivity. The ratios of the conductivity parallel to the axis (sigma) to that perpendicular to the axis in plane (sigma ') and to that across the plane (sigma ") are as high as 10(3) (sigma/') and 10(5) (sigma/sigma ") respectively.