The morphology control of polyaniline as conducting polymer in fuel cell technology

TLDR

Conducting polymers, hailed as synthetic metals and awarded a Nobel Prize in 2000, have attracted intense research, with polyaniline standing out for its high acid‑doped conductivity, robust electrochemistry, and scalable synthesis. This study aims to tailor polyaniline morphology to produce a high‑surface‑area, conductive, and stable polymer for use as membrane electrode assembly components or noble‑metal supports in fuel cells.

Abstract

Electrically conducting polymers described as a new class of 'synthetic metals' reached a high interest in the last years, confirmed by the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery and development of conductive polymers (Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa). The most commonly studied classes of conducting polymer were: polyacetylene, polytiophene, polypyrole, polyaniline and derivates, being investigated as conducting matrices for electrocatalytic applications. Among them, polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most studied materials because of its high conductivity upon doping with acids (10 -10 2 S/cm), well behaved electrochemistry, and easy preparation under reproducible conditions by both electro - polymerization and chemically oxidation of aniline, chemical and electrical stability and good environmental stability. The purpose of our research is to obtain a conductive and stable polymer, with a high surface area, by variation of different preparation techniques and parameters, in sense of polymer morphology control. The research interest is to implement the conducting polymers in fuel cell technology, as Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) components or conducting supports for noble metal deposition.