Polyaniline-thiacalix[4]arene metallopolymer, self-doped, and externally doped conductive polymers

Abstract

The never ending desire to accelerate charge transfer phenomena in conductive polymers, has led to the introduction of new combinations of conjugated and charge carrier segments. Nevertheless, the mission does not end here but in fact a need for the study on the effectiveness of the proposed conductive product and its possible application rises. In general, the introduced high performance conductive polymer is actually a multi-functional compound that not only can have a rapid and easy charge transfer but can also produce a multi-application product if a fine choice of each segment takes place. This article deals with the conductivity increment of polyaniline (PANI) through the synthesis of redox polymer and intrinsically conductive polymers (ICP) with thiacalix[4]arene (TCA) segment combination. A redox polymer was prepared through the copolymerization of PANI and TCA to give metallopolymers of PANI-TCA. Two diverse ICPs were also synthesized; the first was prepared through emulsion polymerization of PANI in the presence of sulfonated TCA as an external dopant named doped PANI-TCA and the second was prepared by the covalently bonding of TCA to PANI chains to give self-doped PANI-TCA. The polymerization condition was carefully designed to give nanocomposites for each conductive polymer which was confirmed by XRD, SEM, AFM and TEM measurements. The conductivity of the nanocomposites was compared and their valuable anticorrosion property was studied through Tafel plots. The antioxidant study of the conductive polymers through DPPH assay revealed an inhibition up to circa 80 % for the self-doped PANI-TCA. Protection against bacterial infection was also investigated for the nanocompsites through the Kirby-Bauer technique to reveal their probability to be used as implants.