Electrically Conductive Polyaniline-Coated Electrospun Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Mats

*Correspondence: Claudia Merlini and Guilherme Mariz de Oliveira Barra, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário Trindade, Caixa Postal 476, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina 88040-900, Brazil e-mail: dra.claudiamerlini@ yahoo.com.br; [email protected] Electrically conductive polyaniline (PANI)-coated electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) mats were fabricated through aniline (ANI) oxidative polymerization on electrospun PVDF mats.The effect of polymerization condition on structure and property of PVDF/PANI mats was investigated.The electrical conductivity and PANI content enhanced significantly with increasing ANI concentration due to the formation of a conducting polymer layer that completely coated the PVDF fibers surface.The PANI deposition on the PVDF fibers surface increased theYoung modulus and the elongation at break reduced significantly. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy revealed that the electrospun PVDF and PVDF/PANI mats display a polymorph crystalline structure, with absorption bands associated to the β, α, and γ phases.