A magnetic susceptibility study of emeraldine base polyaniline

Paramagnetic spins are found even in carefully synthesized samples of emeraldine base polyaniline. We report here magnetic susceptibility data up to a temperature of 475 K on a number of emeraldine base samples that were synthesized at different oxidant to monomer ratios. All the samples, although electrically insulating, show the presence of Pauli-like susceptibility. A simple albeit physically realistic model involving spin-pairs is shown to lead to such a dependence on temperature. The analysis of the data indicates that polarons in emeraldine base are created in pairs and that the intra-pair interactions encompass a broad distribution of antiferromagnetic exchange couplings.