Polyaniline alloys with poly(3-sulfonato-4-hydroxystyrene)

Abstract

Oxidation of aniline with ammonium peroxodisuffate in aqueous solutions containing poly(3-sutfonato-4-hydroxystyrene) gave polymer alloys (or polymer blends) with a general composition of {(—C₆H₄NH—)[—CH₂—CH(C₆H₃·OH·SO₃^–)—]_x(H₂SO₄)_y·zH₂O}_n. Their electrical conductivities depended on the composition and varied between 10^–5 and 0.5 S cm^–1 at 300 K. The polyaniline salts were soluble in water and exhibited an electronic absorption band characteristic of emeraldine salts at 800 nm. The corresponding alkaline solutions showed a band due to emeraldine bases at 600 nm. These bands showed a pH dependence that is a consequence of an interchain interaction between two kinds of polymer chains. A polymer with x= 04, y= 1.2 and z= 3.6 was soluble enough to observe EPR spectra, whose pH dependence showed that, with increasing pH, deprotonation occurs at polarons prior to deprotonation at bipolarons.