Synthesis and electrocoating of indole–thiophene comonomer on carbon fiber microelectrode, and surface topography by AFM

Exploring the electrical and complex optical properties of as-synthesized thiophene-indole conducting copolymers

In this contest, a novel series of random thiophene-indole (Th-In) conducting copolymers have been synthesized through oxidative copolymerization of their monomers in aqueous medium at room temperature using anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl₃) as an oxidant. The structure of as-studied samples have been confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) ensured the morphology of as-prepared copolymers. The complex optical parameters of the samples have been estimated through ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of dc electrical conductivity of the samples have been obtained over a temperature range 303–393 K, which found to be in the range 10⁻⁶–10⁻⁴ Scm⁻¹ followed Arrhenius relation. The degradation behaviour has been studied through thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques.