Electroactive polyimide with oligoaniline in the main chain via oxidative coupling polymerization

By oxidative coupling polymerization of the imidic macromonomer of oligoaniline and p-phenylenediamine we have prepared an electroactive polyimide, exhibiting exciting molecular structure, electrochemical properties and excellent thermal stability. The polymerization characteristics and structure of the electroactive polyimide were systematically studied by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical activity of the polyimide was tested in 1.0 M H2SO4 aqueous solution and it shows two redox peaks, which is the same as that of polyaniline. Moreover, the thermal properties of the polyimide were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Its electrical conductivity is about 8.87 × 10−6 S cm−1 at room temperature upon preliminarily protonic-doped experiment.