A promising copolymer of aniline and m-aminophenol: Chemical preparation, novel electric properties and characterization

A copolymer, poly(aniline-co-m-aminophenol), was synthesized chemically. The monomer concentration ratio strongly affects the copolymerization rate and the properties of the copolymer. A solution consisting 0.34 M aniline, 0.012 M m-aminophenol, 0.47 M ammonium peroxydisulfate and 2 M H2SO4 was found to be an optimum mixture for the chemical copolymerization. The visible spectra show that a high concentration ratio of m-aminophenol/aniline in the mixture inhibits the chain growth of the copolymer. The spectra of IR and 1H NMR demonstrate that m-aminophenol units are included in the copolymer chain, which play a key role in extending usable pH region of the copolymer. The result of cyclic voltammograms in a wide potential region of −0.20–0.80 V (vs. SCE) indicates that the copolymer prepared under the optimum condition still held 52.7% of the electrochemical activity when the copolymer electrode was transferred from a solution of pH 4.0 to a solution of pH 11.0, which is much better than that of polyaniline. The X-ray diffraction spectra and images of the copolymers reveal a fact that the changes in the crystal structure and morphology of the copolymers are as a function of the monomer ratio in the mixture. The conductivity of the copolymer prepared under the optimum condition is 2.3 S cm−1 and slightly depends on the pH value.