Electrochemical behavior of a composite of polyimide and polypyrrole

Conducting composites composed of polypyrrole (PPy) and polyimide (PI) have been successfully synthesized by electrochemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole in a PI matrix. The PPy-PI composite has higher permeability to ions than a PPy-poly(amic acid) composite. The charge storage ability of the PPy-PI composite was found to be higher than those for PPy film and for a PPy-poly(amic acid) composite containing the same amount of PPy. This behavior may be due to the intrinsic electroactivity of the PI matrix and the high permeability of PI to ions during the electrochemical process. This makes composites containing conducting polymer as a filler and PI as a matrix to be a promising candidate for charge storage devices application.