PROPERTIES OF ELECTRONICALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYANILINE - A COMPARISON BETWEEN WELL-KNOWN LITERATURE DATA AND SOME RECENT EXPERIMENTAL FINDINGS

This paper deals with the synthesis and properties of the electronically conductive polymer polyaniline. Firstly, the accepted properties of polyaniline are reviewed. Secondly, the problems of this electronically conductive material with respect to the mechanism of its synthesis, the oxidation state of the individual molecules, the nature of the crystalline arrangement in differently prepared grades and the nature of the charge carriers are discussed. The most important result in this paper is a totally new reaction mechanism for the synthesis of polyaniline, being the most detailed and comprehensive mechanism published to date.