Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.50, No.9, 5589-5595, 2011
Preparation of Polyaniline Nanofibers by High Gravity Chemical Oxidative Polymerization
To develop a suitable method for the mass production of polyaniline (PANT) nanofibers, the preparation of PANI nano fibers was carried out by high gravity chemical oxidative polymerization (HGCOP) in a rotating packed bed (RPB) for the first time. The influences of operating conditions, e.g., aniline concentration, high-gravity level, reaction temperature, and dopants, on the morphology of PANI nanofibers were investigated in detail. FTIR, UV-vis, XRD, molecular weight, and conductivity analyses were performed to characterize the products. Advantages of this new method are discussed. PANT nanofibers were successfully obtained in a wide range of aniline concentration (0.1-0.5 M) and reaction temperature (0-60 degrees C). The nanofibers kept small diameters of 30-50 nm and uniform morphology even when synthesized with a high initial aniline concentration of 0.5 M. This method provides a significant improvement to the rapid mixing route to prepare PANT nanofibers in large scale, moreover, it has potential applications in the synthesis of other conductive polymers.