Electrochemical synthesis of nanosize polyaniline from aqueous surfactant solutions

Electrochemical polymerization of aniline was carried out in micellar solutions of camphor sulphonic acid (CSA, anionic surfactant), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, cationic surfactant) and TritonX 100 (Tx100, nonionic surfactant), to reveal the morphology against the nature of the surfactant molecule. The resultant polyaniline film was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetric techniques. The surface morphology observed from different surfactant molecules was found to be distinctly different. Polyaniline synthesized from CSA and Tx100 solutions, showed uniform nanosized (100 nm) globular structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.