1354 Synthetic Metals, 55-57 (1993) 1354-1359 OPTICAL~ ELECTRICAL AND ESR CHARACTERIZATION OF POLY(p- PHENYLENESULFIDE) DURING ELECTROCHEMICAL DOPING C.ARBIZZANI, M.MASTRAGOSTINO Dipartimento di Chimica "G.Ciamician", Universith di Bologna, Bologna (Italy) G.DELLEPIANE, P.PIAGGIO Istituto di Chimica Industriale, Universith di Genova, Genova (Italy) G.ZOqTI Istituto di Polarografia ed Elettrochimica Preparativa, CNR, Padova (Italy) ABSTRACT Electrochemical doping of polyGo-phenylenesulfide) (pPPS) in concentrated sulfuric acid offers a promising way for studying electrical properties of this material because an accurate control of the doping level is possible. We have performed an extensive investigation of the electrochemical behaviour of pPPS in 96% H2SO4 and, hence, measured in situ optical spectra, conductivity and ESR data of samples at different values of the injected charge; in this paper the results are presented and discussed in relation to data of pPPS and oligomers chemically doped. INTRODUCTION We previously demonstrated that poly(p-phenylenesulfide) (pPPS) can be electrochemically doped in concentrated sulfuric acid [1,2]; this finding offers a promising way for studying the electrical properties of this interesting material because it allows an accurate control of the doping level. The control is on the contrary very difficult by chemical doping and reliable correlations of data obtained by different techniques on chemically doped samples cannot be obtained. This is presumably the reason of some controversial interpretations about the doping mechanism and the nature of the induced defects in pPPS [3,4], and only studies carded out on well-characterized doped samples can provide insight into the topic. For this purpose we have performed an extensive investigation of the electrochemical behaviour of pPPS in 96% H2SO 4 and, hence, measured in situ optical spectra, conductivity and ESR data of samples at different values of the injected charge. In this paper these results are presented and discussed in relation to previously reported data of pPPS and oligomers chemically doped. 0379-6779/93/$6.00 © 1993- Elsevier Sequoia. All rights reserved