FTIR ATR SPECTROELECTROCHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF POLYANILINE WITH PERRHENATE AS A NEW DOPING SYSTEM

In the present paper, the application of the in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy for th e study of structural and electronic changes during electrochemically induced insulator-to-metal transitions of polyaniline (PANI) in aqueou s electrolytes is reported. Problems concerning the discrimination of polymer absorption bands and anion absorption bands are discussed and perrhenate as a new doping system is presented. The infrared absorptio n bands of perrhenate do not interfere with the absorption bands of PA NI and can therefore be used to determine in situ the changes of the a nion content during electrochemical reactions of the polymer by an inf rared spectroscopic method. The results of in situ FTIR ATR spectrosco py using a metal grid coated reflection element show that the method c an yield important information for the elucidation of the reaction mec hanisms of conductive polymers.