| Abstract: | Nanotechnology has emerged as a subject of immense academic interest and excitement in the past few decades. The immediate goal of this science aims at the production of high performance nanomaterials. The present study reports comparative investigations on the in situ polymerization of polyaniline (PANI), and its derivatives poly(1‐naphthylamine) (PNA) and poly(o‐toluidine) (POT) within the camphor sulphonic acid (CSA) modified montmorillonite (MMT) layers. The polymerization as well as intercalation of the conducting polymers was confirmed by FT‐IR, UV‐visible spectroscopies, and XRD studies, whereas the morphology of the nanocomposites was analyzed by TEM studies. It was found that the PANI derivatives (PNA and POT) revealed higher intercalation as compared with PANI. The morphology of nanocomposites was found to be governed by the type of conducting polymer intercalated. A large variation in the morphology as well as particle size was observed between the nanocomposites of PANI and its derivatives. The conductivity was found to be in the range of 10−3–10−2 S·cm−1. POLYM. COMPOS., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers |
