title: In situ diazonium-modified flexible ITO-coated PEN substrates for the deposition of adherent silver-polypyrrole nanocomposite films.
abstract: In this paper, we report a simple and versatile process of electrografting the aryl multilayers onto indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated flexible poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrates using a diazonium salt (4-pyrrolylphenyldiazonium) solution, which was generated in situ from a reaction between the 4-(1H-pyrrol-1-yl)aniline precursor and sodium nitrite in an acidic medium. The first aryl layer bonds with the ITO surface through In-O-C and Sn-O-C bonds which facilitate the formation of a uniform aryl multilayer that is ∼8 nm thick. The presence of the aryl multilayer has been confirmed by impedance spectroscopy as well as by electron-transfer blocking measurements. These in situ diazonium-modified ITO-coated PEN substrates may find applications in flexible organic electronics and sensor industries. Here we demonstrate the application of diazonium-modified flexible substrates for the growth of adherent silver/polpyrrole nanocomposite films using surface-confined UV photopolymerization. These nanocomposite films have platelet morphology owing to the template effect of the pyrrole-terminated aryl multilayers. In addition, the films are highly doped (32%). This work opens new areas in the design of flexible ITO-conductive polymer hybrids.
authors.affiliation: Technical Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai 400085, India.
authors.forename: Soumen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samanta
authors.forename: Idriss
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bakas
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Dinesh K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Aswal
authors.forename: Mohamed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Chehimi