Amine-appended polyaniline as a water dispersible electroactive polyelectrolyte and its integration into functional self-assembled multilayers

Abstract

We present an effective and simple method for the synthesis of poly(3-aminobenzylamine) (PABA) using a chemical oxidation strategy in aqueous solution. The polymer was characterized by NMR, LDI-TOF mass spectrometry, UV-visible, XPS and ATR-FTIR spectroscopies. Stable acidic dispersions were employed for the construction of layer-by-layer assembled films with polyanions, which effectively act as dopants of the electroactive component as revealed by spectroscopic analysis. The assembled films were electroactive in neutral solutions, probably owing to the combination of the doping effect by the polyanions and the self-doping effect of the protonated amino groups of the PABA backbone. These layers showed an electrocatalytic effect on the ascorbic acid oxidation. The advantages of employing PABA instead of polyaniline include improved electroactivity in neutral solution, good processability owing to its higher solubility in acidic solutions and increased interaction with anionic counterparts, which may propel its integration with electroactive biomolecules or conducting nanomaterials for the design of bioelectrochemical devices and energy storage applications.

Electrochemical Dopamine Biosensor Based on Poly(3-aminobenzylamine) Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembled Multilayer Thin Film

“…The methylene proton signal appeared at 3.34 ppm (a) and the aromatic protons attached to the benzenoid and quinoid rings of PABA showed the multiplet signals 6.55–7.31 ppm (b–i). It could be concluded that the synthesis of PABA from the ABA monomer using APS as an oxidant was successful in this study [ 36 , 45 ].…”

“…The peak at 240 nm was assigned to the π–π* transition within the aniline moiety, whereas the peak at 300 nm was assigned to the π–π* transition attributed to benzenoid rings and lone pair electrons of nitrogen [ 40 , 46 ]. In addition, the PABA exhibited a broad absorption band around 500 nm, which was attributed to the excitonic π–π* transition from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the valence band to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the conduction band [ 36 , 40 , 47 ]. For PL measurement, the ABA monomer and PABA solutions were excited in the range of 340–380 nm ( Figure S3 of Supplementary Information ).…”

“…A 50 mM ABA aqueous solution was magnetically stirred for 15 min. APS (50 mM) was gradually added into ABA solution under continuous stirring for 1 h. The obtained mixture was purified through alkaline precipitation by adding 10% KOH solution until pH of the mixture reached 10 [ 36 ]. The mixture was centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 10 min, rinsing with DI water and methanol, respectively.…”

Layer-by-layer integration of conducting polymers and metal organic frameworks onto electrode surfaces: enhancement of the oxygen reduction reaction through electrocatalytic nanoarchitectonics

“…This correlation indicates that the electroactive component integrated in the LbL assembly is electrochemically connected within the films, which is not necessarily valid for all the LbL assemblies with non-electroactive counterparts. 55 Thus, it is possible the functional integration of the electroactive block in the composite films by this simple nanoarchitectonic approach. nanocrystals, cyclic voltammetry in air-saturated solutions after different functionalization steps was performed between 0.5 and -0.6V (Fig.…”

Electrochemical nanoarchitectonics through polyaminobenzylamine–dodecyl phosphate complexes: redox activity and mesoscopic organization in self-assembled nanofilms

“…Additionally, PABA also displays enhanced electroactivity in neutral solutions compared with PANI. 23,24 Owing to its improved processability in aqueous solution, PABA seems to be a better candidate than PANI for the preparation of electrostatically-driven complexes with surfactants. On the other hand, the particular interaction between protonated amines and phosphate anions has been extensively recognized.…”