The properties of polypyrrole (PPy) films grown by electrodeposition on solid anode are dependent on surface characteristics of the electrode, on dopant and solvent used, and on experimental conditions such as potential and current applied. In order to understand the film formation mechanisms in more detail it is necessary to investigate in-situ the first stage of its growth, which is the main task of this work.

The electrodeposition of PPy films was carried out from aqueous solutions on Au/mica electrodes. The Au electrodes were prepared in clean vacuum by thermal evaporation on freshly cleaved mica substrates. The morphology of the substrates and film surface was studied with a multimode SPM using both contact and intermittent contact modes, and a modified liquid cell.

Atomically flat gold substrates are ideal for imaging with AFM the first stage of PPy film growth. For the method the use of flat substrates is essential to be able to distinguish the topographical features of the film and substrate.

Electrodeposition of the films was carried through in galvanostatic mode. As the film growth mechanism depends sufficiently on current density different deposition series with varied time and/or current values were done. The film topography was studied after each deposition cycle. Using relatively high current density values for the synthesis we observed the formation of a thin polymer layer over the whole electrode area already after the first cycle. Earlier investigators doing both ex-situ and in-situ AFM measurements observed similar results. As our earlier ex-situ AFM experiments showed that the film growth carried out at low synthesis current densities starts manly on the active centers of the electrode surface, and only after applying more charge the polymer-film starts to cover the whole electrode surface, we are concentrating to the use of low current density values now. In the presentation our last results of in-situ PPy film growth studies will be presented.

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