Electrochemical synthesis of conductive, superhydrophobic and adhesive polypyrrole-polydopamine nanowires

•PPy-PDA nanowires were electrochemically synthesized for the first time.•The PPy-PDA nanowires exhibited greatly enhanced adhesion force and excellent conductivities.•The PPy-PDA nanowires displayed sticky superhydrophobicity. Polypyrrole-polydopamine (PPy-PDA) films with nanowire morphologies were synthesized by a simple one-step electrochemical method using sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) as dopant. Compared to the PPy films and PPy-PDA films synthesized with other dopants, the SDBS-doped PPy-PDA nanowire films exhibited greatly enhanced adhesion force to the electrodes. In addition, the conductivities of the resultant PPy-PDA nanowire films were also significantly improved by three times compared to that of the PPy film. More interestingly, the PPy-PDA nanowire films displayed sticky superhydrophobicity. Water drop could adhere to the films tightly even when the films were turned upside down. These attractive properties, plus the simple and rapid synthetic method, offer a possibility for the PPy-PDA nanowire films being used as universal electrode modified materials for various applications.