Electrochemical Polymerization of 2-Chloroaniline and Characterization of the Obtained Polymer Films

Abstract

Electrochemical polymerization of 2-chloroaniline on platinum electrode in acid medium was carried out under various reaction conditions, altering temperature, current density, hydrochloric acid, and monomer concentrations and time duration. The initial rate of the electropolymerization reaction is small and the orders are found to be 1.00, 1.06, and 0.96 with respect to current density, acid, and monomer concentrations, respectively. The apparent activation energy (Ea) is found to be 44.336 kJ mol 1. The rate law is RP ¼ K2½D 1:00½HCl 1:06½M 0:96. The obtained polymer films are characterized by 1H-NMR, elemental analysis, IR, and cyclic voltammetry. The mechanism of the electropolymerization reaction is also discussed. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is used to confirm the proposed structure and determination of the number of water molecules in the polymeric chain unit. X-ray and scanning electron microscopic analysis are used to investigate the surface morphology.