Effect of solvent-dopant competition on the conductivity of polyaniline films

Protonation of P ANI-EB in m-cresol with camphorsulphonic acid (CSA) was carried out for different PANI/CSA ratios by addition of CSA to PANI in m-cresol: 1st) at once; 2nd)after 2 weeks. In the 2nd case PANI is doped rather by m-cresol than by CSA as evidenced by UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy. As a result, the films cast from solutions prepared using the 1st procedure showed the conductivity 4–5 orders higher that those obtained done by the 2nd one. A model of strong solvent-dopant competition is proposed to explain this behavior,