Preparation of polyaniline‐poly(ethylene‐vinyl acetate) film: Resistivity in the ESD range

Abstract Films of polyaniline (PANI) salt with poly (ethylene‐vinyl acetate) (EVA) with two different PANI salts, PANI‐methane sulfonic acid (PANI‐MSA) and PANI‐p‐toluene sulfonic acid (PANI‐PTSA) are prepared by solution processing technique for electrostatic discharge (ESD) application. PANI‐MSA/PANI‐PTSA salts were synthesized by emulsion polymerization pathway then dispersed the PANI salt in xylene solvent. EVA was dissolved in xylene solvent. Series of PANI salt/EVA films were prepared by mixing a particular amount of PANI dispersion to a fixed amount of EVA solution and evaporated the solvent. PANI‐EVA films were evaluated by tensile strength, elongation at break and surface resistivity measurements. The results of PANI‐MSA/EVA films are compared with the results of PANI‐PTSA/EVA films. Also, PANI‐MSA/EVA and PANI‐PTSA/EVA solutions are coated on different substrates and measured their electrical resistivity for ESD application. Morphological study and thermal behaviors of PANI‐MSA/EVA films are carried through FE‐SEM and TGA respectively. Sphere morphology of EVA changed to swollen sheet like morphology with the addition of PANI, and the spaces between the sheets increased with the increase in PANI content. The surface resistivity of the EVA‐PANI films are found to be in the range of 10 4 –10 8 Ω sq −1 , which is suitable for ESD application.