Preparation and characterization of polyaniline/exfoliated graphite composite via a combination method of in situ polymerization and thermal expansion

Polyaniline/exfoliated graphite (PANI/EG) composite was prepared via a combination method of in situ polymerization and thermal expansion and characterized, using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In the in situ polymerization, PANI/graphite intercalation compounds (GIC) composite was synthesized by GIC and aniline. In the thermal expansion, PANI/EG composite was prepared by PANI/GIC composite. The characterization showed that the morphology of PANI/EG composite was analogous to foam and the surface of PANI/EG composite had many micro-apertures. When PANI/GIC composite was synthesized by 0.80 g of GIC and 2.00 g of aniline, PANI/GIC composite would be exfoliated to PANI/EG composite at 200 °C, which had 75.00 mL·g⁻¹ of the expansion volume and 0.01Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹of the conductivity.