Influence of the scan rate on the morphology of polyaniline grown on conducting fabrics. Centipede-like morphology

We report the apparition of different polyaniline (PANI) morphologies when different scan rates were employed in the electrochemical deposition of PANI on conducting fabrics. The most impressive structure obtained was the centipede-like morphology. PANI was deposited on conducting textiles of polyester covered with polypyrrole (PPy)/anthraquinone sulphonic acid (AQSA) by means of cyclic voltammetry. With the scan rates of 50 mV s−1 and 5 mV s−1 PANI with centipede-like morphology was obtained in the first scans. Globular PANI gained importance for higher number of scans due to the formation of new nucleation sites. When a scan rate of 1 mV s−1 was employed a variety of different morphologies were observed, such as: fibrillar, stalagmite-like, coral-like and plain irregular forms. Such variety of morphologies is due to the slow growth that allowed different types of morphologies.