Oxidative chemical polymerization of 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene and its applications in antistatic coatings

The oxidative chemical polymerization of 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was conducted at room temperature in the presence of poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) as the doping agent, sodium supersulphate (Na 2 S 2 O 8 ) and ferric sulphate(Fe 2 (SO 4 ) 3 ) as the compound oxidant and deionized water as the solvent. In order to remove sodium ion (Na + ), ferric ion (Fe 3+ ), and sulfate ion (SO4 2− ), certain amount of ion exchanger was added after 24 h, the dark blue poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDT)/PSS solution was obtained. The influence of different proportions of EDOT and PSS, different proportions of EDOT and the compound oxidant, different stirring rates on the morphology, and surface resistivity were discussed. The influence of pH value of the PEDT/PSS solution, the coating thickness, and soak time on the surface resistivity was investigated. Recipe and experimental conditions were optimized and the PEDT/PSS solution was obtained with excellent performance which has relatively low in surface resistance, good water tolerance, and light transmittance. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012