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Evaluation of Structure, Nucleation and Growth Mechanism of Electropolymerized Polypyrrole on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite Electrode
Author(s) -
Hwang BingJoe,
Santhanam Raman,
Lin YiLiang
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
electroanalysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1521-4109
pISSN - 1040-0397
DOI - 10.1002/elan.200390011
Subject(s) - nucleation , polypyrrole , highly oriented pyrolytic graphite , chronoamperometry , materials science , pyrolytic carbon , chemical engineering , atomic force microscopy , chemical physics , graphite , substrate (aquarium) , mechanism (biology) , electrode , cyclic voltammetry , nanotechnology , polymerization , chemistry , polymer , scanning tunneling microscope , electrochemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , philosophy , oceanography , engineering , epistemology , pyrolysis , geology
Abstract Chronoamperometry ( i–t ) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to study the nucleation and growth mechanism of electropolymerized polypyrrole formed on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate surface. From i–t measurements it was found that the nucleation and growth mechanism was a 3‐D progressive after nuclei overlapping. However, before nuclei overlapping, it was not clear whether the mechanism was 2‐D instantaneous or 3‐D progressive. This ambiguity in the nucleation and growth mechanism was confirmed as 3‐D progressive from the results of AFM measurements. In addition to nucleation and growth mechanism, possible models were proposed for different structures observed on the AFM image of polypyrrole, obtained from very early stages of polymerization.