AFM morphological study of electropolymerised polyaniline films modified by surfactant and large anions

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) ex situ experiments were carried out in order to study morphologies of polyaniline films grown in the presence of an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS), and also using different functionalised organic acids. Polyaniline film morphologies obtained in the presence of SDS were analysed in terms of the formation of a complex between the rodlike micelles and the anilinium cation in solution. For the different acids, the influence of anion size and the solubility of the oligomeric salt were considered to explain the different sizes of globular morphologies.