Polymerization of anilinium–DBSA in the presence of clay particles: kinetics and formation of core‐shell structures

Abstract

Abstract This paper is an extension of previous work on polymerization of anilinium–DBSA (dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid) in an aqueous dispersion in the presence of mica or talc silicate particles. The presence of mica or talc particles greatly accelerates the polymerization process of anilinium‐DBSA and an encapsulated structure is formed as well. The catalytic effect of various metallic cations which exist in the chemical compositions of mica or talc on the polymerization kinetics of anilinium‐DBSA was investigated. The conductivity results along with microscopy observations prove a well formed encapsulated structure for the polyaniline/mica composites, but less for the polyaniline/talc composites. The anilinium‐DBSA complex and mica aqueous dispersions pretreated at different temperatures prior to polymerization have shown a significant effect on the polymerization rate of anilinium‐DBSA. The higher the dispersion temperature, the higher is the polymerization rate found. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.