Polyaniline and its modification for electroresponsive material under applied electric fields

Polyaniline (PANI) and its various copolymers were synthesized using different monomers such as o‐methyl‐, o‐methoxy‐, o‐ethyl‐, o‐ethoxyaniline and sodium diphenylamine sulfonate by the chemical oxidation polymerization as air‐stable organic conducting polymers, and adopted as one of the most potential materials of electrorheological (ER) fluids, especially for the anhydrous system. A relatively low density, a controllable conductivity, and thermal stability are advantages of the PANI based ER system compared with other ER materials. An FT‐IR analysis was adopted to confirm their synthesis and a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated the shape of PANI derivatives was irregular. The effect of functional group of PANI on electric and electroresponsive properties of poly(aniline‐co‐ethoxyaniline) (COPA) particles were examined. A universal scaling equation of the yield stress was applied to these ER fluids and it was found that all data were collapsed successfully onto a single curve regardless of monomer type of the polyaniline synthesized. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.