A rapid and facile synthesis of nanofibrillar polyaniline using microwave radiation

Abstract

We present the first fast and facile microwave assisted synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers ("MWA synthesis"). Under conventional synthesis (CS), the polymer was produced with 79.7% yield after 5 h at ambient temperature. However, under microwave irradiation, the nanofibers were produced with yield of 76.2% after only 5 min, i.e., with 78.8% after 20 min at ambient temperature. The FTIR and Raman spectra show the PANI structure in all samples either synthesized conventionally or in the microwave. SEM and TEM confirm the nanofibrillar morphology.