Electrically Conductive Polymers and their Use as Novel Pigments in Advanced Coatings

• Main Author: Byrom, Joseph Robert
• Format: Others
• Published: North Dakota State University 2018
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10365/27458

With the push to more environmentally friendly materials to solve some of the biggest challenges in the coatings industry, electrically conductive polymers (ECPs) are seen as a flexible solution due to their unique properties. ECPs are seen as an attractive substitute to the current metallic materials used in applications such as printable electronics, anti-static protection, and corrosion mitigation. Polypyrrole (PPy) is seen as a popular class of ECPs due to its inherent high electrical conductivity, resistance to environmental degradation, and ease of synthesis. The first part of this work was to study the ability of polypyrrole to be synthesized through a novel photochemical process. This method eliminated the need to stabilize particles in a suspension and deposit an electrically conductive film onto a variety of substrates. The second part of this work was to synthesize functional versions of PPy that could further be crosslinked into the coating matrix to improve bulk physical properties through better interaction between the functional filler and the organic coating matrix. The last part of this work is based off prior work at NDSU on AL-flake/PPy composites. This study took the development of these pigments further by incorporating organic anions known to inhibit corrosion and study their efficacy. Advanced analytical methods such as Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy was used to study the electrical properties of PPy. In addition, advanced electrochemical tests such as Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Scanning Vibrating Electrode Technique (SVET), Linear Polarization (LP), and Galvanic Coupling (GP) were conducted alongside traditional accelerated weathering techniques such as ASTM B117 and GM 9540 to determine the corrosion resistance of the synthesized coatings. === Army Research Laboratory