Thermal behaviour of synthetic metals: Polyanilines

Polyanilines have been synthesized by chemical polymerization technique usi ng ammonium persulphate as an oxidant. These polymers have been doped using an inorganic dopant, i.e., HCl and an organic dopant like p-toluene sulpho nic acid (PTSA). Thermal behaviour of polyanilines has been studied by mean s of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The thermogravimetric analysis shows a three-step decomp osition of the polymer corresponding to loss of water molecules, dopant, an d degradation of the polymer backbone respectively. The morphological behav iour has also been studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniq ue.