Design, synthesis and characterization of novel electroactive polyamide with amine‐capped aniline pentamer in the main chain via oxidative coupling polymerization

By oxidative coupling polymerization of the macromonomer of oligoaniline and p‐phenylenediamine we have prepared a novel electroactive polyamide, exhibiting well‐defined molecular structure, interesting spectroscopic and electrochemical properties. The well‐defined molecular structure of the electroactive polyamide was confirmed by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD) and the resulting polyamide exhibit an enhanced solubility in most of the organic solvents as compared with polyaniline. The UV–Vis spectra were used to monitor the chemical oxidation process of the reduced polyamide. Electrochemical activity of the polyamide was tested in 1.0M H2SO4 aqueous solution and it shows three redox peaks, which is different from the polyaniline. Moreover, the thermal properties of the polyamide were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and it shows moderate thermal resistance in the N2 atmosphere. Its electrical conductivity is about 1.04 × 10−4 S cm−1 at room temperature upon preliminarily protonic‐doped experiment.