Electrochemical copolymerization and characterization of dianilines linked by polyether bridge with aniline

Abstract

Copolymer of aniline and triethylene glycol bis(o-aminophenyl) ether was synthesized by constant potential electrolysis. Cyclic voltammogram of the copolymer films recorded in the monomer-free electrolytic solution revealed that the redox behavior of the films approaches to that of poly(triethylene glycol bis(o-aminophenyl) ether) with increasing amount of triethylene glycol bis(o-aminophenyl) in the feed ratio. Copolymerization was investigated by in situ recording the changes in the electronic absorption spectrum during electrolysis. The free standing copolymer film was characterized utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and spectroelectrochemical behavior of the copolymer was investigated via in situ UV-vis spectroscopic technique. Besides the electron spin resonance study of the copolymer film, the different morphologies of the polymers were examined by scanning electron microscopy and the copolymerization was confirmed. The temperature dependence conductivity of the copolymer film was measured by four-probe technique in the temperature range of 100-300 K, and the calculated parameters showed that conduction mechanism fits to variable range hopping.