The effect of ultrasonic waves in conducting polymer solution

The effects of ultrasonic wave on the conducting polymer polyaniline dissolved in DMSO were observed. The UV-visible, infrared and NMR analysis show that the polymer undergo a redox and doping transition when the ultrasound wave interacts with the polymer dissolved into the solvent. The proposed mechanism to explain these effects is based on the solvent's hygroscopicity properties. The interaction with the ultrasonic wave, homolitically dissociates the water molecule producing radical species, and these species interact with the dissolved conducting polymer changing its oxidation and doped state. The resulting effects of that interaction are the modification of oxidation state of the conducting polymer and the decrease of the amount of water molecule in the solvent. From those results, we have proposed one straightforward method to eliminate water contamination in the solvent DMSO using ultrasonic waves.