Synthesis and characterization of novel poly(aniline-co-m-aminoacetophenone) copolymer nanocomposites using dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid as a soft template

A series of dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid (DBSA) doped poly(aniline-co-m-aminoacetophenone) copolymer composites of different compositions were synthesized in micellar solution of DBSA to obtain nanosphere morphology with enhanced processability. The plausible mechanism for the formation of poly(aniline-co-m-aminoacetophenone)-DBSA copolymer composite has been presented. These DBSA doped copolymer composites were characterized by UV–Visible, FTIR spectroscopy and XRD analysis techniques. UV–Vis absorption spectrum of the composites showed 325 and 637 nm which corresponds to the π–π* and n–π* transition. In FTIR spectroscopy a broad band around 2,924 cm^?1 corresponds to C–H vibration of DBSA indicating good agreement with the characteristic bands of DBSA. The sharp band at 1,292 cm^?1 is assigned to C–N stretching mode of vibration of N–Ph–N units. The X-ray diffraction of composites reveals that these composites are amorphous in nature. The number of diffraction peaks decreased with increase in the m-aminoacetophenone content. It indicates that these composites are amorphous in nature. Morphological studies (SEM) reveal that these composites have a spherical morphology with the average size of 100–200 nm. These composites exhibit electrical conductivity value of 0.744 × 10^?3 S/cm and enhanced solubility than polyaniline. Moreover, at the presented work, the DBSA doped copolymer composites were obtained in high yields by keeping an oxidant to co-monomer ratio of 1:1.