Deep impact of the template on molecular weight, structure, and oxidation state of the formed polyaniline

In this work we find that polyaniline (PANI), synthesized by aniline chemical polymerization at a surface of template polycarbonate (PC) particles, is significantly different in molecular weight, structural order, oxidation state, and conductivity from a neat PANI. Molecular weight of the PANI phase in the composite (Mw = 158,000) is 1.6 times higher than that of the neat PANI synthesized in the absence of the template particles. Moreover, XRD analysis shows that crystallinity of the PANI phase in the composite is three times higher than that of the neat PANI. Raman spectroscopy indicates that the oxidation level of PANI in the PC/PANI composite is lower than that of the neat PANI. These noticeable changes of the PANI phase properties suggest specific interactions of reagents in the polymerization medium and formed PANI with the template phase as well as an orientation effect of the latter surface. FTIR spectroscopy reveals that hydrogen bonding in the neat doped PANI is weaker than one between -NH- of PANI and C═O of PC at their interface. The discovered differences are supported by the fact that conductivity of the PANI phase in the composite is more than three times higher than that of the neat PANI.