Electrical Properties of Electrospun Fibers of PANI-PMMA Composites

Electrospinning is one of the simplest techniques for obtaining polymer nano fibers. Nanofibers have large surface area to volume ratio and hence have excellent application potential in sensors, filter design etc. Polyaniline (PANI) is the well-known and widely studied conducting polymer, which however, is insoluble in many common organic solvents and hence difficult to process. PANI in its base form is non conductive but it can be made conducting by protonating with an acids such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) or camphor sulphonic acid (CSA). However, it is difficult to electrospin PANI by itself since we need preferably the polymer in solution form. In this study we have formed nanofibers of PANI (CSA) dispersed in Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) solution in chloroform. The morphology of the electrospun conducting PMMA-PANI composite fibers is studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The DC and AC conductivities of these fibers are measured and the results are discussed.