Comparative Study of the Formation Mechanism of Polyaniline Nanorods and Nanotubes Through In Situ NMR Technique

Abstract

The formation mechanism of nanostructured polyaniline (PANI) synthesized in a micelle-like system was studied by a series of in situ NMR experiments, including 1H NMR and CPMG. Depending on the signal evolution of the major species, the polymerization of polyaniline was divided into three continuous stages. At first, the neutral aniline molecules changed into anilinium, and the aniline dimer produced; and then, the consumption of aniline increased rapidly, the phenazine-like oligomers occurred and hydrated water increased, the micelles remained spherical; the different morphologies of polyaniline were formed by the fusion of spherical micelles in final. In combination with the evolution of the morphology which was characterized through TEM, the formation mechanism of nanostructured polyaniline was compared and analyzed.