Microwave synthesis: An alternative approach to synthesize conducting end-capped polymers

Within this study microwave assisted syntheses of functionalized polystyrene (PS), via ATRP, and tetra-aniline (TANI) end-capped polymers are demonstrated. Compared to conventional heating, microwave irradiation process in pulsed mode shows the feasibility of conducting end-capped polymers synthesis with no degradation, strong acceleration of polymerization rate and coupling reaction, controlled size and chemical formulation. Conducting polymers with controlled architectures in terms of molecular size of both the insulating (PS) and the conducting (TANI) moieties show a conductivity above 10−1 S cm−1 when containing 2 wt% TANI while composites of PS and TANI exhibited a conductivity of ca 10−5 S cm−1 when containing more than 7 wt% TANI.