Enhancement of conductivity in polyaniline-[poly(vinylidene chloride)-co-(vinyl acetate)] blends by irradiation

In this study we have prepared conductive poly(aniline), (PANI) blends with poly(vinylidene chloride-co-vinyl acetate), [P(VDC-co-VAc)] copolymer with varying compositions using gamma radiation to induce conductivity. A number of blends with different compositions were prepared by solution casting followed by irradiation in a 60Co gamma cell to different doses up to 800 kGy. Electrical conductivity of the blends was measured before and after irradiation using a four-probe technique. Increasing radiation dose resulted in an increase of 9 orders of magnitude in the conductivity of P(VDC-co-VAc)/(PANI) films reaching 0.1 S/cm at 500 kGy and beyond this dose a decrease was observed. Effect of film thickness on conductivity of the blends was investigated and a slight increase of an order of magnitude was observed on increasing the film thickness from 50 to 200 μm. It was also observed that PANI blends exhibited a stretch dependent small increase in conductivity. The conductivity of the irradiated films was found to be stable for up to 12 months under ambient conditions.