Thermal doping of polyaniline by sulfonic acids

Abstract

Abstract The thermal doping of the emeraldine base (EB) form of polyaniline using two different sulfonic acids, dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and p ‐toluenesulfonic acid ( p TSA) has been studied. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to record thermal events associated with the doping process. EB undergoes thermally induced doping with both acids at temperatures depending on the initial quantity of the dopant present. The doping temperatures show an increasing trend with increasing proportion of acid. The enthalpy of doping is also composition dependent. Conductivity values determined by the four‐probe method are given for each sample. The highest conductivities were attained at a mole ratio of 1 (dopant:EB) for both EB(DBSA) and EB( p TSA). © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry