Conductivity and crystallinity of polyethylene oxide/polyaniline microfibers obtained by electrospinning

In this paper we present results concerning the processing and characterization of polyaniline microfibers obtained by the electrospinning technique. The electrospinning technique is used to produce micro and nano fibers, this technique uses an electric field to stretch the jet of the polymer and thus produce fibers, which are deposited on a collecting plate. The continuous fibers production will form some like a membrane. The fibers provide a large surface area due to their small diameter, therefore, interesting commercial and scientific application could be considered. In this study, fibers from a solution made of polyethylene oxide and polyaniline were obtained. Chloroform was used as solvents for these polymers. The fibers obtained were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and electrical conductivity. These results indicate that the diameters of the composite fibers are on the micrometric range, the conductivity thereof is that of a semiconductor material and the degree of crystallinity corresponds to a semi-crystalline material.