Optical properties of the chopped and non-chopped vacuum evaporated polyaniline thin film

Abstract Non-chopped and chopped polyaniline (PANI) thin films were deposited onto glass substrate by vacuum evaporating polyaniline base powder. The effect of chopping on the structural and optical properties of the film is reported in this paper. To the authors’ knowledge there are no reports on the chopping of PANI thin films. The effect of annealing on the chopped and non-chopped thin film was also studied. The FTIR studies indicate absence of benzene ring deformation at 607 cm–1 in the chopped films. There is a marked decrease in refractive index in the unannealed chopped films. The SEM data of chopped films show smaller crystallites and more uniform films. Chopping produces growth flux interruption preventing large crystallite growth and film with lower defects and voids.