Synthesis of Polyaniline Hierarchical Structures in a Dilute SDS/HCl Solution: Nanostructure-Covered Rectangular Tubes

Abstract

We reported the synthesis of nanostructure-covered rectangular submicrotubes of polyaniline in the doping state via the oxidation polymerization of aniline in the acidic solution of anionic surfactant. Both the concentrations of surfactant and inorganic acid employed in this preparing system are relatively low, which were essential to the successful fabrication of polyaniline hierarchical structures. We discussed the temperature dependence of polyaniline morphology and found that this synthesis admitted a wide range from 20 to 40 °C. After observing their growth processes, a tentative interpretation has been proposed to elucidate the formation of the tubular hierarchical structures in such a system. It was also found in this report that both SDS and HCl had profound impacts on the morphology of resulting product.