One-pot Synthesis of Superparamagnetic Polyaniline Microtubes and Magnetite Nanoparticles Via Self-Assembly Method

In this work, Polyaniline (PANI) microtubes and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have been synthesized by using ammonium persulphate as oxidant via in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization in the presence of organic sulfonic acid. The resulting PANI / Fe3O4 nanocomposite materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sampling magnetometer, and thermogravimetric analysis. Spectroscopic results indicated formation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on PANI micro tubes. Morphologies of PANI / Fe3O4 nanocomposites were found to be dependent on the molar ratios of aniline to organic acid. As obtained PANI / Fe3O4 nanocomposites contained Fe3O4 particles in the range of 3-7 nm in size which showed superparamagnetism. Nanocomposites exhibited higher thermal stability compared to pure PANI.