Preparation of New Conductive Nanocomposites of Polyaniline and Silica under Solid-State Condition

The novel conductive nanocomposite and composite from polyaniline (PANI) were prepared. The composites were synthesized by in situ oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline on silica- and nanosilica-supported sulfuric acid. The reaction was carried out in a mortar and ammonium persulfate was used as oxidant under solvent-free condition at room temperature. Structure, size and morphology of the synthesized nanocomposite and composite were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Conductivity was measured by four-probe technique and revealed that the samples not only had the conductivity in the range of conductive polymers (~ 0.4 S/cm) but also they showed high conductivity as composites and blends of polyaniline reported by others. Synthesis of composites (nanocomposites) and formation of polarons were confirmed by FTIR and UV-Vis. SEM images showed that silica particles were thoroughly coated by PANI and all were amorphous. According to the TEM and AFM images, particle size in composite and nanocomposite was in the range of 1-5 μm and 35-49 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the surface morphology, shape and dimensions of particles obtained by AFM strongly supported the SEM and TEM observations related to polymer deposition on the silica particles. The key benefits of the approach used in this research are the preparation of novel conductive composite and nanocomposites with the polaron structure under green chemistry condition of dopant solid acids including silica- and nanosilica-supported sulfuric acid.