Structural and electrical characterization of hybrid metal-polypyrrole nanowires

TL;DR

This study synthesizes and characterizes hybrid metal-polypyrrole nanowires, analyzing their structural and electrical properties across a range of temperatures, revealing the applicability of the 3D Mott variable-range-hopping model.

Contribution

It provides detailed structural and electrical characterization of hybrid metal-polypyrrole nanowires, demonstrating the transport mechanism as 3D Mott variable-range-hopping.

Findings

Different interface structures and strengths observed via TEM.

Electrical transport follows 3D Mott VRH model.

Non-linear I-V and magnetotransport behaviors confirmed.

Abstract

We present here the synthesis and structural characterization of hybrid Au-polypyrrole-Au and Pt- polypyrrole-Au nanowires together with a study of their electrical properties from room-temperature down to very low temperature. A careful characterization of the metal-polymer interfaces by trans- mission electron microscopy revealed that the structure and mechanical strength of bottom and upper interfaces are very different. Variable temperature electrical transport measurements were performed on both multiple nanowires - contained within the polycarbonate template - and single nanowires. Our data show that the three-dimensional Mott variable-range-hopping model provides a complete framework for the understanding of transport in PPy nanowires, including non-linear current-voltage characteristics and magnetotransport at low temperatures.