As one of the oldest known conductive polymers, polyaniline (PANI) is well known and studied. The synthesis with nanoscale morphology, namely nanofibers, has also been extensively studied with numerous synthetic methods known. However, these methods are rarely, if ever, compared. This leads to various claims of superiority for certain methods without direct evidence. In particular, this is true for the interfacial synthetic method for PANI nanofibers. This calls for a direct comparison between various methods and parameters. In this work, the two leading methods for the production of PANI nanofibers are investigated: the interfacial synthesis and the simpler rapid addition synthesis (RAS). It is shown that the interfacial synthesis method does not produce more pristine nanofibers than the RAS method, and in fact shows worse growth and suspension. Furthermore, the underlying principles of the interfacial synthesis are flawed as the phase separation does not prevent the monomer and initiator from interacting in regions other than the interface, as the monomer is free to diffuse into either layer.

Interfacial and rapid addition polyaniline nanofiber synthetic methods: A comparative study

256th National Meeting (2018)

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