Microwave-induced synthesis of electrical conducting gum acacia-graft-polyaniline

In the presence of catalytic amount of ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) as oxidant/initiator, the grafting of polyaniline (PANI) on to gum acacia (GA) was done under mild acidic condition using microwave irradiation. The synthesis could be accomplished rapidly under atmospheric conditions. The grafting condition was optimized by varying the microwave power, exposure time and concentrations of initiator, acid, monomer and gum acacia. The copolymer was characterized using UV/vis and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, H1 NMR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and transmission electron microscopy (SEM). The gum acacia-graft-polyaniline (GA-g-PANI) exhibited pH switching electrical conducting behavior dependent on the grafting extent and on the pH of the material. The findings have been discussed and a plausible mechanism for graft copolymerization has been proposed.