Molten salt assisted synthesis of microporous polyaniline nanosheets with superior gas sorption properties

Abstract

Porous polyaniline (PANI) nanosheet has unique structure and properties that can be applied in gas separation, gas storage, and energy storage and conversion devices. To date, it is still a great challenge to construct microporous PANI nanosheet materials. Here, we present an inorganic salt template pyrolysis route for the direct synthesis of ultrathin PANI nanosheets with well-defined microporous structure from hexaaminobenzene monomer. The obtained PANI nanosheets give an ultrathin thickness of 1.6 nm, high surface area (∼395 m2 g−1), and well-defined microporous structure (centered at ∼0.54 nm). The PANI nanosheets with plenty of micropores exhibit superior gas sorption property for CO2 and CH4 at room temperature, which is also expected to improve the performances of PANI nanosheets in other application fields.