A photoelectron spectroscopic study of the electrochemical processes in polyaniline

Abstract

The electronic structure of the base forms of electrochemically prepared polyaniline is studied by means of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Model compounds for the amine, imine and crosslinked nitrogen sites provide the references for the analysis of the core level spectra in the polymer. In particular, the analysis of the nitrogen 1s spectra represents a useful method for accurate determination of the amine to imine ratio. The evolution in the concentration of the different nitrogen species as a function of the electrochemical potential is shown to be in good agreement with the results of cyclic voltammetry measurements. Varying the pH leads to large modifications in the stability domain of the different oxidation states.