Conductive polypyrrole (PPy) was synthesized using a chemical polymerization method in aqueous solution. A series of reactions were carried out with different reaction times of 240 mins and 20 mins. All results were compared to find the highest conductivity and yield. The formation of PPy was verified with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis which has detected the C-N and pyrrole stretching peaks at 1462 cm-1 and 1169 cm-1, respectively, while the x-ray diffraction (XRD) study has shown a broad halo pattern around 25 ̊ related to PPy. The PPy particles sizes of 5-20 microns were measured from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) image. It was found that in the presence of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBSNa) as surfactant, the highest conductivity value of 3.18 S/cm and yield of 68% were achieved at 20 mins reaction time and temperature of 0 °C.

The leakage of surfactant from waterborne coatings is a matter of concern. Therefore, there is a strong interest in developing surfactant-free polymer dispersion as binders for waterborne coatings. This will accelerate the substitution of solventborne binders by the more environmentally friendly waterborne latexes. However, as the performance of the coating depends on the interaction of the latex with pigments and fillers and this interaction is controlled by the composition of the surface of the polymer particles, it is an open question if the surfactantfree latexes are adequate for coating applications. In this work, surfactant-free latexes synthesized under industrial-like conditions using sodium styrene sulfonate (NaSS) to provide stability to the latex were used to formulate exterior paints and their performance compared with that of a commercial latex binder. It was found that for most of the application properties, the paints based on the NaSS binders present improvements with respect to the surfactant stabilized commercial binder.

Supramolecular elastomers were synthesized using vegetable oil materials namely palm acid oil (PAO) and sunflower oil (SFO). The oils were first epoxidized using formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The epoxidized oils and adipic acid were then reacted to make polyacids, mainly triacid. Finally, diethylenetriamine (DETA) was added to polyacid to yield fatty amide and a polycondensation with urea performed to achieve the desired elastomers. The synthesized materials were characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) in order to determine structure, type of bonding and thermal stability. The spectrums revealed that the synthesized fatty amides are contained amide groups that correctly formed from reaction of amine groups of DETA and acid functionality of polyacids. Moreover, the resulted structures showed the formation of multiple hydrogen-bonding in the elastomers. TGA thermograms clearly indicated good thermal stability of the elastomers to 500 °C.

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