(366r) The Investigation of the Effects of Small Molecule Dopants on a Paampsa/PANI System

Stretchable electronic polymer (SEP) sensors have attracted significant interest due to their distinctive properties and versatile applications in the field of healthcare, artificial skin, human-machine intelligence etc. The development of lightweight, self-healable, stretchable, and high functioning components stands as a major requirement in wearable electronics, in consideration of the rigid metal and metal oxide-based sensors. In this work, the SEP system is composed of polyaniline (PANI), poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAAMPSA) and small molecule dopants (SMDs). The polymer system is prepared through the oxidative polymerization of aniline while, A-PAM acts as a template to guide the PANI polymerization. SMD and A-PAM acts as dopants and cross-linking agents. Investigating the effect of SMDs molecular weight, structure, and the number and class of acidic groups (SO₃H, COOH, PO₃H) will provide insights into how these factors influence the intermolecular, thermal, morphological, self-healing, and electro-mechanical properties of the PANI/PAAMPSA system. The hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions between A-PAM, SMD, and PANI synergistically construct a homogeneous regenerative network, which contribute to the elasticity and soft compliant nature of material with extremely high stretchability. Among the various SMDs investigated, 4-dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid, has shown a conductivity of 0.07 S/m and a Young’s Modulus of 39.76 kPa. Furthermore, SMDs such as pyrophosphoric acid, trifluoromethane sulfonic acid, and 5-sulfosalicylic acid dihydrate exhibited a higher stretchability, reaching up to 4000%.