Synthesis and characterization of polyaniline-polyvinyl chloride blends doped with sulfamic acid in aqueous tetrahydrofuran

The temperature dependence of direct current (dc) conductivity was studied for various samples of polyaniline-polyvinylchloride (PANI-PVC) blended films. Polyaniline was doped with different concentrations of sulfamic acid in aqueous tetrahydrofuran (THF) and the blended films were prepared by varying the amount of doped PANI relative to a fixed amount of PVC. The dc conductivity of PANI-PVC blended films was measured to determine the effect of sulfamic acid (dopant) in the temperature range (300–400K). The mechanism of conduction is explained by a two-phase model. In order to evaluate the effect of the dopant, conductivity-derived parameters such as the pre-exponential factor (σ _o) and the activation energy (ΔE) were calculated. The structural changes of polyaniline-PVC blended films were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy that explores information about the suitability of the dopant in the chemical doping process.