Fabrication of Polyaniline: Nail/Spindle-Shaped Morphology

Nail/spindle-shaped polyaniline is synthesized by chemically oxidizing aniline with ammonium persulfate in a near-neutral aqueous medium using PVP as the stabilizing agent. The type of dispersing agent, APS content and aniline concentration have obvious impacts on the morphology of the resulting polyaniline. Typically, in the concentration ranges of 1.5–6 × 10 −4 M PVP and 0.02–0.05 M aniline and for molar ratios [APS]:[aniline] of 0.4:1 to 0.8:1, nail/spindle-shaped polyaniline can be obtained. A possible mechanism is proposed to elucidate the formation process.