Conductivity and Solubility of Nanostructure Poly (α-Naphthylamine-co-Aniline) Prepared by Interfacial Polymerization

Poly(alpha-naphthylamine) (PNPA), polyaniline (PANI), and copoly(aniline-alpha-naphthyl-amine) were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of alpha-naphthyl-amine (NPA) and aniline (ANI), respectively, using ammonium persulphate [(NH4)(2)S2O8] (APS) as initiator in the presence of methane sulphonic acid (MSA). For chemical polymerization to obtain the corresponding homo- and copolymers, two procedures were adopted, i.e., an aqueous solution of methane sulphonic acid and an interfacial process using chloroform and aqueous solution. Poly (alpha-naphthylamine) (PNPA), polyaniline (PANI) and copolymer nanostructures were synthesized by simply tuning the preparation in a two-phase medium. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and four probe conductivity measurement techniques were applied for the characterization of the products. The difference between homo- and copolymer morphologies was attributed to the difference between the relative rates of interfacial nucleation and aqueous nucleation methods. Conductivity, solubility and morphologies of these copolymer films were compared in order to give some insights into their differences. The results obtained showed that the conductivity and solubility properties of nanostructure copolymers are higher than copolymers prepared by conventional method.