Colloidal and thermal stability of polyaniline-coated multi-core shell polystyrene latexes prepared using sulfonated N-hydroxyethyl aniline

Conductive polymer particles, poly(sulfonated N-hydroxyethyl aniline, SHEA)-polyaniline-poly(SHEA)-polystyrene (PSHEA-PANI-PSHEA-PSt) multi-core shell composite particles, were synthesized by chemical oxidation polymerization and an effect of poly(SHEA) on the colloidal and thermal stability enhancement was investigated. The PSHEA-PANI-PSHEA-PSt particles showed spherical shape and nearly monodisperse particle size distribution. Elemental analysis, UV-vis spectra, and Raman spectra revealed that polyaniline (PANI) was successfully coated onto the poly(SHEA) modified polystyrene particles. Conductivity of the PSHEA-PANI-PSHEA-PSt particle was higher than that of PANI-PSt particle after annealing at elevated temperature due to the non-volatile properties of poly(SHEA) as a co-dopant compared with inorganic dopants such as HCl. XPS analysis unveiled that the PANI in the PSHEA-PANI-PSHEA-PSt particle was co-doped by sulfonic acid in poly(SHEA), which increased conductive thermal stability of the particles.