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TEM, XRD and AFM study of poly(o-ethoxyaniline) films: new evidence for the formation of conducting islands

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Abstract

The existence of conducting islands in polyaniline films has long been proposed in the literature, which would be consistent with conducting mechanisms based on hopping. Obtaining direct evidence of conducting islands, however, is not straightforward. In this paper, conducting islands were visualized in poly(o-ethoxyaniline) (POEA) films prepared at low pH, using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and atomic force spectroscopy (AFS). The size of the islands varied between 67 and 470 Å for a pH=3.0, with a larger average being obtained with AFS, probably due to the finite size effect of the atomic force microscopy tip. In AFS, the conducting islands were denoted by regions with repulsive forces due to the double-layer forces. On the basis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for POEA in the powder form, we infer that the conducting islands are crystalline, and therefore a POEA film is believed to consist of conducting islands dispersed in an insulating, amorphous matrix. From conductivity measurements we inferred the charge transport to be governed by a typical quasi-one dimensional variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute for Innovation and Business and National Nanotechnology Laboratory for Agribusiness (LNNA), Embrapa Agricultural Instrumentation, P.O. Box 741, 13560-970, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Fabio L. Leite, William F. Alves, Paulo S. P. Herrmann & Luiz H. C. Mattoso

  2. Institute of Physics of São Carlos, University of São Paulo (USP), P.O. Box 369, 13560-970, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Fabio L. Leite, Yvonne P. Mascarenhas & Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr.

  3. Department of Exacts Science, Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL), 37130-000, Alfenas, MG, Brazil

    Mirta Mir

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  1. Fabio L. Leite
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  2. William F. Alves
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  3. Mirta Mir
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Correspondence to Fabio L. Leite.

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Leite, F.L., Alves, W.F., Mir, M. et al. TEM, XRD and AFM study of poly(o-ethoxyaniline) films: new evidence for the formation of conducting islands. Appl. Phys. A 93, 537–542 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-008-4686-9

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