Polyaniline: Influence of Polymerization Current Density

Abstract

AbstractPolyaniline has been synthesized in propylene carbonate by galvanostatic electrochemical polymerization at current densities between 16 and 1000 μA/cm2. Earlier results for polypyrrole have shown that low and high current density films have different properties: The films synthesized at low current density have a higher conjugation length and a more regular structure. The corresponding effect in PANI has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry and UV/visible spectroscopy. Simultaneous measurement of cyclic voltammograms and the absorbtion of selected spectral lines is used because of the complex nature of the PANI system which involves several redox systems as well as forms differing in the degree of protonation and morphology.The main result is that the method of galvanostatic synthesis at low current densities (-16 μA/cm2) produces polyaniline polymers of different, more conjugated and more regular structure than those prepared at higher current densities. The standard method of in situ layer-by-layer polymerization of conducting polymers during cyclic voltammetry often results in uncontrolled and unmeasured current densities of 0.5-2 mA/cm2 which produces a film that probably has a less regular structure containing more deviations from ideality.