Thermal degradation mechanism of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid-hydrochloric acid co-doped polyaniline

Co-doped polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized in microemulsion by hydrochloric acid (HCl) and dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) then thermal treated in air at 160 and 200 degrees C for 0.5 h, respectively. The changes of structure, thermal stability, micromorphology and electrical conductivity after thermal treatment were studied by Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and four-probe technique. It was found that the conductivity of PANI decreased about 50% after thermal treated at 160 degrees C, and droped by 2 orders of magnitude at 200 degrees C. This may be explained by that only a fraction of total mass of HCl losses during thermal treatment at 160 degrees C, but after heating at 200 degrees C, the dedoping of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) along with cross-linking, chain scission and oxygen incorporation in a form of carbonyl groups take place, resulting in destruction of crystal structure, decrease of the emeraldine sequence, lower thermal stability and heterogeneous micromorphology. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.