Growth behaviour of polyaniline films deposited by pulse potentiostatic method

Electrochemical polymerization of aniline (ANI) was performed in aqueous 0.5 M H₂SO₄ using pulse potentiostatic method (PPSM). The polymeric films were deposited under different tuneable pulse parameters in PPSM like pulse number (P_n), pulse width (P_w) and variations of aniline concentrations. Cyclic voltammetry was used for evaluating the characteristics of the deposited polymeric films. A suitable equation relating the growth of the deposited films and the pulse parameters in PPSM was deduced as: growth = k[ANI]P_nP_w where k is growth rate constant and k value was evaluated through growth function. Various surface parameters were evaluated. The surface excess and thickness of the film showed increasing trend with increasing [ANI] and P_n. The polymer was also characterized in various acidity conditions. The elcectroactivity of the film was found to be retained in highly acidic solution and showed decreasing activity with increasing pH.