Specific features characterizing electrochemical synthesis of polyaniline conducted in the presence of poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) and the spectroelectrochemical characteristics of the obtained films

The electrochemical matrix polymerization of aniline in the presence of poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPSA) is performed in conditions that lead to the formation of an interpolymer complex comprising polyaniline and PAMPSA of the 1: 2 composition. The acceleration of the process of polymerization of aniline in the presence of PAMPSA as compared with traditional electropolymerization of aniline in hydrochloric acid is caused by the association of aniline molecules with the sulfo groups of PAMPSA and by a high concentration of hydrogen ions in the vicinity of a molecule of PAMPSA. It is established for the first time ever that, in the initial stages of synthesis for both polymeric and low-molecular-weight acids, the rate of polymerization is substantially greater at a smaller concentration of the acid. The distinguishing feature of the initial stage of electropolymerization of aniline at a low acidity of the environment is a non-autocatalytic character of the process, which may exert a discernible influence on a complex of physicochemical properties of polyaniline, including electric conduction. Studying spectroelectrochemical properties of the obtained films shows practical identity of their spectra with the spectra of standard polyaniline.