One-pot synthesis of polyaniline doped with transition metal ions using H2O2 as oxidant

Polyanilines (PANIs) doped with Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ were synthesized by H 2 O 2 oxidative polymerization of aniline in the presence of corresponding metal chloride in solution. The products were characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis-NIR, FTIR and Raman spectroscopies. Scanning electron micrograph was employed to examine the morphology of PANIs fabricated in the presence of different transition metals. Experimental results showed that transition metal ions had been successfully incorporated into the polymer, and there was a strong interaction between the transition metal ions and the PANI chains. The electrical conductivity of PANI doped with Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ is 0.37 and 0.21 S/cm, respectively, which is higher than that of HCl doping PANI corresponding to 0.052 S/cm. The cyclic voltammetric study has indicated that incorporation of metal ions in PANI backbone results in increasing of specific capacitance compared to that of HCl doping PANI. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.