Chemical and electrochemical analyses of polyaniline prepared with FeCl3

Aniline is polymerized by chemical oxidation with FeCl3 in water. At an optimum reaction condition, the resulting polyaniline has a number average molecular weight of 20 400 and a yield of 51%. Chemical and electrochemical analyses show that the polyaniline is emeraldine. FeCl3 is found to be one of the appropriate oxidants to prepare emeraldine, though its standard electrode potential (0.771 V) is lower than that of (NH4)2S2O8 (1.94 V) which has been conventionally used to prepare emeraldine.