Effects of gamma irradiation on PMMA/polyaniline nanofibre composites
by Patricia L.B. Araujo, Katia A.S. Aquino, Elmo S. Araujo
International Journal of Low Radiation (IJLR), Vol. 4, No. 2, 2007

Abstract: Polyaniline (PANI) presents promising antioxidant and radical-scavenging properties. Substances having these characteristics are good candidates for radioprotecting agents. In this work, nanofibres of polyaniline emeraldine doped with (±)-camphor-10-sulfonic acid (PANI-(±)-CSA) were prepared by self-assembly method under 'silent' and sonochemical conditions. PANI emeraldine base (PANI-EB) nanofibres were obtained after dedoping with NH₄OH and were used as additives in films of commercial PMMA, in order to investigate radiostabilising effects on the PMMA matrix. Films containing aniline (An) and PANI-EB grains were also prepared for comparison. Variations in viscosity-average molar mass (Mv) at a 25 kGy dose showed that samples containing aniline, PANI-EB nanofibres or grains in amounts of 0.15% (wt/wt) underwent less degradation than the control sample. In addition, PMMA/PANI-EB nanofibres and PMMA/An at 0.15% (wt/wt) showed a smaller number of scissions per original molecule (α) than control samples in the 25–75 kGy dose range. Spectroscopic characterisation (FTIR, UV-Vis) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of PANI samples were also performed.

Online publication date: Wed, 17-Oct-2007

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