Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) manipulation of polyaniline has been variously emplo
yed to obtain organized assemblies for use in molecule-based electronic dev
ices. However, the electrochemical characteristics of polyaniline LB films
which have a direct implication on the proposed device applications have no
t been given much attention. We report here, electrochemical characterizati
on of multilayer LB films of polyaniline prepared by employing N-methylpyrr
olidone as the processing solvent. The films have been transferred onto a v
ariety of substrates such as quartz, platinum, platinum sputtered on quartz
, and conducting tin oxide on glass. The electrochemistry of polyaniline LB
films has been studied using cyclic voltammetry coupled with a quartz crys
tal microbalance (QCM). Cyclic voltammograms were obtained for films transf
erred at different surface pressures, for films containing different number
of layers. The electrochemical characteristics of LB multilayers were comp
ared with those of electrochemically deposited films and were used to infer
the packing behaviour of polymer chains in the LB film structure. It was f
ound that multilayer LB films are electroactive but the kinetics of counter
ion transport in these films is slower than that observed in electrochemic
ally deposited films. The multilayer LB films also show poor electrochromic
switching behaviour. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.