THERMAL PROCESS FOR ORIENTATION OF POLYANILINE FILMS

It is demonstrated that emeraldine base polymer films can be processed to form strong oriented materials by maintaining the polymer under stress while the temperature is raised toward the glass transition temperature. After the orientation process, the polymer chains are significantly oriented parallel to the stretching direction. These stretch-oriented materials can then be treated with protonic acids to form emeraldine salt. These salt polymers are oriented to a lesser degree than the starting emeraldine base form. The oriented emeraldine base and emeraldine salt polymers show enhanced optical and electrical properties