Electrophoretic as New Method for Deposition of Polyaniline Derivatives Nanostructure Coatings

In this research, at the commencement, polyaniline (PANi), polyorthoanisidine (PoAnis), polyorthotoluidine (PoTol), and polyorthoamino phenol (PoAP) were synthesized through a chemical polymerization process. Subsequently, the nanostructured coatings of these polymers were electrodeposited on a stainless steel 304 substrate through an electrophoresis method in a solution containing emeraldine salt in multiple solvents (as a colloidal suspension) and aluminum nitrate (as a charging agent). The scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to assess the structure and determine the synthesized polymer morphology. The SEM images clearly indicated that the particle sizes of all the polymers were less than 100 nm. In electrophoresis approach, voltage, time and the type of solvent are the effective factors and components on the film quality. Henceforward, we commenced studying how these factors can affect the coating of nanostructured polyaniline and its derivatives. The optimum voltage, process time, and solvent amount required for the formation of each nanostructured polymeric coating were obtained as 25 V, 12 min, and ethanol for PANi, 5 V and 8–10 min for PoAP, 30 V and 25 min for PoTol, 37 V and 20 min for PoAnis, respectively.