EFFECTS OF THERMAL AGING ON LEUCOEMERALDI NE FORM OF POLYANILINE

Electrical and chemical structures of ''leucoemeraldine base'' form of polyaniline aged thermally in air have been studied by UV-V and IR sp ectroscopies. The results show that the formation of relatively shorte r quinon-diimine blocks can be induced in polyaniline molecules by the rmal aging up to about 190 degrees C. In higher temperature aging, the decrease in free standing imine-nitrogen and the increase in deactiva ted imine-nitrogen resulting from some kinds of crosslinkings should i ncrease the difficulty of the protonation reaction by dipping in sulfu ric acid solution.