Investigation of ordering in polyaniline salt films prepared from hexafluoroisopropanol solutions

Hexafluoroisopropanol has proved to be a useful solvent for salts of the emeraldine form of polyaniline prepared from a number of sulfonic acids. Large peaks at relatively small X-ray scattering angles establish the presence of domains containing a periodicity with a spacing in the 1-3 nm range. The spacings suggest that the emeraldine chains are separated by distances equivalent to two anion lengths. The domain size in the direction of periodicity indicate that only 2-4 repeat units are involved. Neither the X-ray scattering nor results obtained from neutron reflectometry show evidence for preferential orientation of the domains. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.