CONDUCTING BLENDS OF SOLUBLE POLYURETHANE AND POLY(O-METHOXYANILINE)

Flexible, conducting and semicrystalline films were obtained by castin g polyurethane (PU) and doped poly(o-methoxyaniline) (POMA) mixtures f rom N,N-dimethylformamide, Free-standing blend films showed an increas e of conductivity from about 10(-6) to 10(-3) S/cm without additional doping as the POMA content in the blends increased from 5 to 65% (by w eight). The crystalline structure of the homopolymers was investigated using wide-angle X-ray diffraction and was also compared with that of the blends by electron diffraction. Whereas the pure PU is completely amorphous, POMA is semicrystalline and crystalline regions in the ble nd were observed even for a PU-POMA 90:10 (by weight) composition. Mor phology studies showed connected percolating pathways for blends with a POMA content from 10 to 65% (by weight).