Core level photoemission studies on conducting polypyrrole polymer nanotubes showing switching transitions

Abstract

Conducting Polypyrrole (PPY) nanotubes is a classical model system for strongly correlated disordered materials showing intriguing switching transitions from low to high conductivity states at low temperature. This switching behaviour can be tuned by incorporating gold nanoclusters to form composite nanotubes (AuPPY). Here, we present core level electronic structure studies on PPY and AuPPY nanotubes with different diameters using hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy at room temperature. The spectroscopic data provide information on the role of diameter as well as metal cluster incorporation for a modification of the electronic structure of this important class of nanotubes. Furthermore, electrical transport measurements were performed at low temperature to extract the change in localization length and doping level in these nanotubes. Based on these results, we explain the observed electrical transport behavior of these nanotubes as the interplay of disorder and carrier concentration.