CONTROLLING THE QUALITY OF DEPOSITS OF POLYANILINE SYNTHESIZED ON GLASS-FIBER FABRIC

A rapid method of obtaining conductive fabrics by in situ synthesis of polyamine is described. The synthesis conditions, and in particular the reactant concentrations, must be optimized to attain the maximum quality of polyaniline deposited. For this, we have developed a characterization methodology allowing separation of the quantitative and qualitative aspects. The development of a simple model enables the intrinsic conductivity of polyaniline to be determined, which represents a good criterion for the quality of the deposit. Calculations of the thickness from elementary analysis of nitrogen and of the yield on the fabric give quantitative assessment. The results of the parametric study of the synthesis show that the intrinsic conductivity of polyaniline reaches a maximum of the order of 20 OMEGA-1 cm-1 linked to the degree of oxidation of polyaniline. The corresponding yield is close to 30%. After three deposits, the fabric conductivity reaches 1.4 OMEGA-1 cm-1 for a polyaniline deposit thickness of 444 nm.