Structural and morphological study of poly (methyl methacrylate)/polyaniline composite membranes

Abstract In this work, polyaniline (PANI) has been synthesized with chemical oxidative polymerization method. The dopant hydrochloric acid (HCl) and oxidant potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) was used during synthesis. Composites membranes of PANI with PMMA were prepared using solution cast method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows that PANI loses its semi-crystalline nature with PMMA polymeric chains. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results shows that the intensity of peaks decreases with the addition of PANI. The decrease in intensity might be due to inappropriate interaction of PANI with PMMA. The distribution of PANI in PMMA matrix was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. The optical images show the agglomeration of PANI in PMMA matrix which confirms the non-random distribution of PANI.