Electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of polyaniline/natural rubber composite fibers |
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| Authors: | Panu Sukitpaneenit Tuspon Thanpitcha Anuvat Sirivat Christoph Weder Ratana Rujiravanit |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Conductive and Electroactive Polymers Research Unit, The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand;2. Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44122‐7202;3. Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44122‐7202 |
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| Abstract: | Electrically conducting elastomer fibers based on natural rubber (NR) and up to 10% w/w polyaniline (PANI) in its emeraldine base (EB) form were fabricated by a wet spinning process. The resulting fibers at various PANI contents were doped by immersion in aqueous HCl solution, which converted the PANI to the electrically conductive emeraldine salt (ES) form. The morphology of the composite fibers was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PANI particles were inhomogeneously distributed in the NR matrix. The electrical conductivity of the fibers increased with the increasing PANI‐ES content and leveled off at a value of around 10?3 S/cm at PANI‐ES concentration of 5% w/w. The fibers retained most of their elasticity upon doping, while the tenacity was somewhat reduced. Gratifyingly, the electrical conductivity of the new elastomer fibers was preserved upon elongational deformation, even if strains as large as 600% were applied. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007 |
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| Keywords: | polyaniline natural rubber electrical conductivity elastomers composites fibers |
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