Electrically Conducting Polyaniline Microtube Blends

摘要

Self-assembled polyaniline micro/nanotubes were synthesized by a template-free method. Changing the molar doping level ratio Aniline:DOPANT from 0.25 to 2 increased the polyaniline tube (PAT) diameter by 3 orders of magnitude. Bulk conductivity of the tubes was demonstrated for both micro- and nanotubes and varied from 0.01 to 1.2 S/cm. When microtubes were solution- blended with polyurethane, a highly dispersed fractal network of tubes was observed, and the resulting blend conductivity was 1 x 10(exp-3) S/cm and 1 x l0(exp-3) S/cm for 0.5% and 2%(wt/wt) PANI microtube loadings, respectively. These values were sufficient for the minimal value needed (1 x 10(exp-6) S/cm) for charge mitigation. The promising results of this program lend themselves to developing an all-polymer microtube-conducting composite that has sufficient conductivity and transparency to mitigate electrical charge in lightweight space structures.