Conductive composites from polyaniline and polyurethane sulphonate anionomer

The present work describes the synthesis of conductive composite of polyurethane sulphonate anionomer (PUSA) and para toluene sulphonic acid doped polyaniline (PANI–PTSA). HCl‐doped PANI was synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in HCl, which was converted to PANI–EB by treatment with NH₄OH. PTSA doped PANI was synthesized from EB‐PANI by redoping with PTSA solution. PUSA was synthesized from 4, 4′‐diphenylmethanediisocyanate (MDI), polypropylene glycol (PPG), 1,4‐butanediol (BD), and ionic diol SDOL. The composite was prepared by mixing of the solutions of two polymer components in DMF and then solution casting. The products were characterized and analyzed by UV‐Vis and FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy. The conductivity was found to increase by 100 times with concomitant decrease in percolation threshold when polyurethane was replaced by PUSA in the composite for the same amount of polyaniline. The composite film was thermally stable upto ～300°C. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41600.