Nanofabrication of conducting polymer fillers in polymer matrix: Polystyrene-poly-o-toluidine composites

• Published in: Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals 2023-01, Vol.751 (1), p.73-82
• Main Authors: Aksimentyeva, O. I., Konopelnyk, O. I., Horbenko, Yu. Yu, Martyniuk, G. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Charge transport; Conducting polymers; Electrically conductive composites; Fillers; Light microscopy; Nanofabrication; Optical microscopy; poly-o-toluidine; Polymer matrix composites; Polymers; polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Specific conductivity; Spectroscopy; structure; Sulfonic acid; Thermal stability; Thermogravimetric analysis; Toluene; Toluidine; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 1542-1406; 1563-5287; 1527-1943
• DOI: 10.1080/15421406.2022.2073531

The conductive polymer composites based on conjugated polyaminoarenes and polystyrene were obtained by fabricating a conducting polymer filler in toluene solutions of polystyrene in the presence of toluene sulfonic acid (TSA). The structure of composites was studied by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, UV-viz spectroscopy, and optical microscopy. It has shown that polymer filler fabricated inside polystyrene matrix is formed as the emeraldine salt of TSA. Prepared PS-POT composites have higher thermal stability in comparison to polymer PoT-TSA filler. It was found that the high specific conductivity of PS-PoT-TSA composites is due to the formation of ordered crystal regions in the polymer matrix and has a semiconductor character. However, in the presence of a polymer matrix, the activation energy of the charge transport increases.