Effects of Preparation Approaches and Oxidizing agents on the Yield, Morphology and Thermal stability of Polyaniline

Evidence of the control of yield and different morphological features of polyaniline (PANI), along with their higher thermal stability is reported. The syntheses were performed by varying the reaction time from 2 to 6 hours for three different methods using three different oxidizing agents. The freshly prepared PANI was investigated by means of fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The polymer yield was increased with the increasing of reaction time from 2 to 6 h for all oxidants in the synthesis approaches; while the reverse trend was observed for KPS in rapid mixing polymerization and mechanical stirring methods. The highest yield was obtained for 6 h reaction time using APS through mechanical stirring method. FESEM analysis showed the growth of regular and uniform PANI nanoparticles, along with the prevention of secondary growth and agglomeration of primary nanofibers using all three oxidizing agents for sonochemistry and rapid mixing polymerization method, except H2O2 in the case of later technique. However, irregular and agglomerated PANI was found for all oxidants in mechanical stirring method. TGA data showed that PANI synthesized by mechanical stirring method is thermally more stable than those prepared by sonochemistry and rapid mixing polymerization.