Morphology of chemically in situ precipitated films of polyaniline on the substrate of cellulose triacetate

Abstract

Thin films of polyaniline were obtained by chemical oxidation of0,05 Maniline with ammonium peroxydisulfate on the substrate of cellulose triacetate in situ in an aqueous solution of0.5 Mcitric acid (CA).These films on flexible substrate of cellulose triacetate were characterized by UV/VIS, FTIR ATR spectroscopy as well as SEM and atomic force microscopy. With the assistance of scanning electron microscope (SEM) was found that the film of polyaniline on substrate of cellulose triacetate, formed predominantly of macromolecular aggregates of different sizes, which are mainly close in the shape to circle. Detailed analysis of 2D-images of atomic force microscope confirmed, that polyaniline aggregates are preferably in the shape to circle. However, analysis of 3D-images displayed that the aggregates obtained by polyaniline on the surface of cellulose triacetate have an irregular quasi cone-shaped appearance with smooth (polished) sides. Obviously, that the growth of these aggregates occurs from the surface into the solution and when the aniline is consumed, happens smoothing effect of surfaces of these formations. In the films of polyaniline were detected the large cone-shaped localized aggregates of macromolecules of polyaniline. The parameters of thin polyaniline films such as: roughness, root mean square, asymmetry, eccentricity, average maximum height of sample as well as average maximum height and depth of roughness were determined and calculated by atomic force microscopy. As we can see from comparison of the calculated results of determining the thickness of polyaniline film on the matrix substrate with different methods shows their good convergence. The established effective thickness by various methods of polyaniline film is 80 nm. Keywords : polyaniline, cellulose triacetate, films, structure, topology, morphology