Crystallinity and Electrical Conductivity of PANI-Ag/Ni Film: The Role of Ultrasonic and Silver Doped

Polyaniline (PANI) is typically a conductive polymer which has a uniqueness in structure and physical properties. The physical properties generally can be controlled by introducing a specific dopant as well as other processing parameters. This polymer has been widely investigated and applied in various fields, especially in electronics. Some metallic elements have been introduced to modified its characteristic such as iron and copper. In order to improve the characteristic of this material, it is important to study the optimum process as well as the elemental substitution of PANI films. In this study, we report the influence of employing sonochemistry technic and the silver substitution on the crystallinity and electrical conductivity of PANI/Ni films. The samples have been prepared similarly to the previous report with silver doped in the range of 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5 M. Other series of the sample were also prepared at various irradiation time of ultrasonic exposure. FTIR spectra showed that EB and ES Polyanilines had been successfully synthesized. X-RD histogram also revealed that crystallinity of the films comparably increased with the increase ultrasonic irradiation time as well as the silver in dopant. Along with the crystallinity, the electrical conductivity of films also increased as an increase of the dopant and of ultrasonic irradiation time. (paper)