Properties of conductive PANI fabricated using different dopant acids and molar ratios

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the greatest conductive polymer due to its good conductivity, ease of synthesis and high environmental stability. The objective of this study is to characterize and compare the properties of PANI fabricated by interfacial polymerization method using different dopants acid, sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3) with different molar concentrations of 1 M and 2 M. The electrical conductivity of PANI was investigated using PROSTAT PRS-812 Resistance Meter. The synthesized PANI with 2 M H2SO4showed the highest electrical conductivity, while 1 M and 2 M HNO3 showed almost the same electrical conductivities to PANI with 1 M H2SO4. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was used to visualize the morphological structure of PANI. FESEM images showed that different morphologies structure of polyaniline were produced using different dopants and molar ratios while Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to analyze the formation of chemical bonding on PANI. The typical peaks of PANI were observed around 1580, 1300-1240 and 800 cm-1