Powdered polyaniline (PANI) was synthesised chemically with different doping anions namely hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and para-toluenesulfonic acid (pTSA). Two-step synthetic procedure was utilised at low temperature. The highest reaction efficiency was found for chlorine-doped PANI. Structural characterization with FTIR revealed the vibration bands characteristic to formation of the emeraldine salt. The surface morphology of doped PANIs was studied by SEM images which showed near globular shape and porous structures with different size of the aggregated particles. They were smaller for Cl–- or pTS–-doped PANI while for SO42– the size was markedly larger. The XRD patterns revealed that there are ordered regions especially for pTS– doped PANI, while the highest conductivity value was recorded for Cl– doped one followed by organic pTS– doped and SO42– doped one.

Transparent Conductive Electrode (TCE) is an essential part of the optoelectronic and display devices such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Solar Cells, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and touch screens. Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a commonly used TCE in these devices because of its high transparency and low sheet resistance. However, scarcity of indium and brittle nature of ITO limit its use in future flexible electronics. In order to develop flexible optoelectronic devices with improved performance, there is a requirement of replacing the ITO with a better alternate TCE. In this work, several alternative TCEs including transparent conductive oxides, carbon nanotubes, conducting polymers, metal nanowires, graphene and composites of these materials are studied with their properties such as sheet resistance, transparency and flexibility. The advantage and current challenges of these materials are also presented in this work.