Facile approach to fabricate waterborne polyaniline nanocomposites with environmental benignity and high physical properties

Waterborne polyaniline (PANI) dispersion has got extensive attention due to its environmental friendliness and good processability, whereas the storage stability and mechanical property have been the challenge for the waterborne PANI composites. Here we prepare for waterborne PANI dispersion through the chemical graft polymerisation of PANI into epichlorohydrin modified poly (vinyl alcohol) (EPVA). In comparison with waterborne PANI dispersion prepared through physical blend and in situ polymerisation, the storage stability of PANI-g-EPVA dispersion is greatly improved and the dispersion keeps stable for one year. In addition, the as-prepared PANI-g-EPVA film displays more uniform and smooth morphology, as well as enhanced phase compatibility. PANI is homogeneously distributed in the EPVA matrix on the nanoscale. PANI-g-EPVA displays different morphology at different aniline content. The electrical conductivity corresponds to 7.3 S/cm when only 30% PANI is incorporated into the composites, and then increases up to 20.83 S/cm with further increase in the aniline content. Simultaneously, the tensile strength increases from 35 MPa to 64 MPa. The as-prepared PANI-g-EPVA dispersion can be directly used as the conductive ink or coatings for cellulose fibre paper to prepare flexible conductive paper with high conductivity and mechanical property, which is also suitable for large scalable production.