Extended Conjugation in Polyaniline Like Structure Prepared by Plasma Polymerization Suitable for Optoelectronic Applications

Plasma polymerization of aniline is carried out in a radiofrequency plasma reactor and the effect of polymerization time is examined in the structural, optical and optoelectronic properties of deposited films. Conjugated structures of polyaniline like films are obtained with unique and broad optical absorption band in the ultraviolet and entire visible region. The width of the absorption band increases and hence the optical band gap decreases with polymerization time. The optical constants are extracted by Swanepoel method and the optical dispersion parameters are determined by employing the Wemple-DiDomenico single oscillator model. The films exhibit similar thermal stability in air and argon atmosphere in the region of interest for optoelectronic applications. The photoluminescence study suggests, like the chemically synthesized polyaniline, the benzenoid units to be responsible for fluorescence. The fluorescence peaks due to defect states confirm the formation of spectroscopic units in the plasma polyaniline films.