Characteristics of polyaniline electrosynthesized in propylene carbonate medium in the presence of di- and trichloroacetic acids

In the present work the characterization of polyaniline electrosynthesized in propylene carbonate medium in the presence of di- and trichloroacetic acids was performed using different techniques. The electrochemical response by cyclic voltammetry showed redox processes due to the formation of polaron and bipolaron and polymer degradation. The characterization by infrared and UV-visible spectroscopies indicated that the polymers are in the emeraldine salt form with perchlorate anions incorporated. The films produced with both acids in propylene carbonate media presented a compact morphology as observed by scanning electron microscopy. By testing the polyaniline film produced in selected conditions in a lithium battery environment it was found that it presents a high coulombic efficiency, promising for battery applications

Studies on the interaction between humic substances and conducting polymers for sensor application

The interaction between humic substances and poly(o-ethoxyaniline) (POEA), a conducting polymer, was investigated for both solution and self-assembled films. The results have shown that the humic substances induce a doping of POEA by protonation, as indicated by UV-Vis and Raman spectroscopies. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on the self-assembled films have shown that the average roughness of the polymer film has increased after exposing it to humic substances (fulvic and humic acids), consistent with the interaction between POEA and humic substances. However, this change in morphology is reversible by washing the films with water in agreement with the electrical data allowing using this system in sensor applications. Here, the sensor formed by an array of different sensing units was able to detect and distinguish humic substances in aqueous solution, as shown by multivariate analysis (principal component analysis). The motivation to detect humic substance comes due to its importance in terms of quality control of water or soil. ©2005 Sociedade Brasileira de Química

Polyaniline, an electroactive polymer, supports adhesion and proliferation of cardiac myoblasts

Abstract-Conductive polymers, such as polypyrrole, have recently been studied as potential surfaces/matrices for cell-and tissue-culture applications. We have investigated the adhesion and proliferation properties of H9c2 cardiac myoblasts on a conductive polyaniline substrate. Both the non-conductive emeraldine base (PANi) and its conductive salt (E-PANi) forms of polyaniline were found to be biocompatible, viz., allowing for cell attachment and proliferation and, in the case of E-PANi, maintaining electrical conductivity. By comparison to tissue-culture-treated polystyrene (TCP), the initial adhesion of H9c2 cells to both PANi and E-PANi was slightly reduced by 7% (P < 0.05, n = 18). By contrast, the overall rate of cell proliferation on the conductive surfaces, although initially decreased, was similar to control TCP surfaces. After 6 days in culture on the different surfaces, the cells formed confluent monolayers which were morphologically indistinguishable. Furthermore, we observed that E-PANi, when maintained in an aqueous physiologic environment, retained a significant level of electrical conductivity for at least 100 h, even though this conductivity gradually decreased by about 3 orders of magnitude over time. These results demonstrate the potential for using polyaniline as an electroactive polymer in the culture of excitable cells and open the possibility of using this material as an electroactive scaffold for cardiac and/or neuronal tissue engineering applications that require biocompatibility of conductive polymers

Detection of Brominated By-Products Using a Sensor Array Based on Nanostructured Thin Films of Conducting Polymers

The detection of the carcinogenic trihalomethanes (THM) in public water supplysystems using low-cost equipment has become an essential feature, since these compoundsmay be generated as by-products of water-treatment processes. Here we report on a sensorarray that extends the concept of an “electronic tongue†to detect small amounts ofbromoform, bromodichloromethane and dibromochloromethane, with detection limits aslow as 0.02 mg L-1. The sensor array was made up of 10 sensing units, in whichnanostructured films of conducting and natural polymers were deposited onto goldinterdigitated electrodes. The principle of detection was impedance spectroscopy, withmeasurements carried out in the range between 1 Hz to 1 MHz. Using data at 1 kHz, atwhich the electrical response varied considerably by changing the analyte, we demonstratedwith principal component analysis (PCA) that samples with the 3 brominatedtrihalomethanes can be distinguished from each other and for various concentrations

Thermo-analyses of polyaniline and its derivatives

In this work, is presented the thermal behavior of polyaniline (PAN!) and its derivatives poly(o-ethoxyaniline) (POEA) and poly(o-methoxyaniline) (PUMA), which were studied by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), modulated DSC (TMDSC), respectively, and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The results from diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and thermal analysis showed the formation of crosslinking isomerization reaction during the heating process. The results showed that the maximum weight loss and the crystallinity degree depend on the type of the aromatic ring substituent group, i.e. hydrogen, ethoxy or methoxy. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Evaluation of Aquatic Environments Using a Sensorial System Based on Conducting Polymers and its Potential Application in Electrochemical Sensors

A sensor array consisted of interdigitated gold electrodes modified with nanostructured ultra-thin films of conducting polymers was used to evaluate different water samples from three distinct reservoirs, located in the São Paulo State, Brazil, according to their eutrophic level, i.e. oligotrophic, eutrophic and hypereutrophic. These reservoirs samples presented different eutrophic levels. The sensor array data were processed and analyzed by using PCA (principal component analysis). In the near future, this will be a reliable and straightforward method to analyze water samples based on the concept of global selectivity and electrochemical impedance