Aqueous Colloidal Dispersions of Polyaniline Particles

Abstract

ABSTRACTColloidal polyaniline has been prepared in acidic aqueous media by a modified chemical polymerization of aniline in the presence of a tailor-made polymeric surfactant. The surfactant which acts as a steric stabilizer used in this study is derivatized poly(vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate). This surfactant contains pendant aniline units which participate in the aniline polymerization, resulting in the formation of sterically-stabilized polyaniline particles which have a non-spherical “rice-grain” morphology.It is shown that this novel form of polyaniline is more processable than the bulk powder that is normally obtained from a conventional chemical synthesis. The solid-state conductivity of solution-cast films or compressed pellets of these dispersions is surprisingly high (⋍ 1 S/cm), despite the presence of the insulating outer layer of chemically-grafted stabilizer.