Electrochemical synthesis of poly(2-methyl aniline): electrochemical and spectroscopic characterization

Abstract

Poly(2-methyl aniline) or poly(ortho-toluidine), as ring substituted derivative of aniline, has been synthesized electrochemically in various concentrations of H2SO4 and HCl, and then characterized by cyclic voltammetry, as well as by impedance and Raman spectroscopy. The cyclic voltammograms of poly(o-toluidine) and poly(aniline) show that the electrochemical polymerization of these two polymers proceeds by almost identical mechanisms. The Raman spectroscopical measurements suggest that the redox reactions of poly(aniline) and poly(o-toluidine) are similar in the potential range between –0.2 and 0.7 V vs. SCE. The impedance measurements showed that the conductivity of poly(o-toluidine) is an order of magnitude lower than that of the corresponding poly(aniline) form.

Keywords

• poly(2-methyl aniline)
• electropolymerization
• cyclic voltammetry
• Raman spectroscopy