Morphological controlled synthesis of micro-/nano-polyaniline

A novel, highly efficient and economical route is developed for the synthesis of polyaniline micro-/nanostructure. Materials were characterized by a complementary combination of X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, and UV-visible spectrophotometer. Morphology of polyaniline can be tailored by varying the structure-directing agents and pH of the synthesis condition. Ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol formed a three-dimensional flower-like structure whereas block-copolymer (ethylene oxide and propylene oxide based co-polymer EO₂₀PO₇₀EO₂₀) formed leaf-like structure when the synthesis was performed at pH 7. Using these structure-directing agents, nanorod and granular morphologies were obtained when the samples were synthesized at pH 3 and 1, respectively.