Single-Molecular-System-Based Selective Micellar Templates for Polyaniline Nanomaterials: Control of Shape, Size, Solid State Ordering, and Expanded Chain to Coillike Conformation

Abstract

A single molecular approach has been developed to selectively template polyaniline nanomaterials via interfacial and emulsion polymerization routes to control the nanomaterials shape, size, solubility, solid state ordering, and expanded polymer chain to coil-like conformation. A new amphiphilic azobenzenesulfonic acid dopant was designed and developed from renewable resource cardanol which exists in the form of 4.3 nm spherical micelles in water. The amphiphilic micelles selectively undergo spherical or cylindrical aggregation with ammonium persulfate (APS) and aniline in water at ambient conditions. In the interfacial route, aniline molecules diffuse through the interface and get oxidized by the dopant−APS spherical pre-aggregates to produce polyaniline nanospheres of 400 nm in diameter. The oxidations of dopant-aniline cylindrical micelles by APS in the emulsion route produce polyaniline nanofibers of 150−200 nm diameters with length up to 5−8 μM. The mechanistic aspects of the polyaniline nanomaterials...