Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.54, No.11, 2632-2640, 2014
The Effect of Anionic Surfactant on the Properties of Polythiophene/Chitosan Composites
Polythiophene/chitosan (PT/Ch) composites and PT homopolymers were chemically synthesized in the presence of anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid sodium monohydrate, ACS anionic surfactant. Conductivity, FTIR, SEM, TGA, and XRD measurements were used to study the properties of the composites. The effect of the ratio of the surfactant to the Ch onto structural and physical properties of the composites was also investigated. Our experimental data show that the properties of the composites depend on the amount of both surfactant and Ch used. The highest conductivity of 9.62 x 10-(3) S/cm(-1) was measured for the PT/Ch2 sample. When measurements were taken for PT/Ch/ACS samples with different Ch and surfactants content, the highest conductivity and initial decomposition temperature were recorded for the PT/Ch2/ACS10 sample as 3.49 x 10(-4) S/cm(-1), 223 degrees C, respectively. (C) 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers