title: Self-stabilized nanoparticles of intrinsically conducting copolymers from 5-sulfonic-2-anisidine.
abstract: Novel copolymer nanoparticles with inherent self-stability, narrow size distribution, and high electrical conductivity are facilely and productively synthesized by the oxidative precipitation polymerization of 5-sulfonic-2-anisidine and aniline in acidic medium without any external stabilizer. The structures of the copolymer particles are systematically characterized by IR and UV/Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, laser particle-size analysis, atomic force microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The comonomer ratio, oxidant/monomer ratio, and polymerization temperature and medium can be used to optimize the size and conductivity of the nanoparticles. It is found that the nanoparticles exhibit a minimal size and polydispersity index of around 53 nm and 1.045, respectively. Nanocomposite films of the nanoparticles with diacetyl and ethyl celluloses show good thermostability and a low percolation threshold of 0.08 wt%, at which the films retain 89% of the transparency, 96-98% of the strength, and 10(8) times the conductivity of the matrix film. The synthesis of sulfoanisidine copolymer nanoparticles is thus achieved without the use of external stabilizer, which opens up a simple and general route to the fabrication of nanostructured polymer materials with controllable size, narrow size distribution, intrinsic self-stability, strong dispersibility, high purity, and optimizable electroconductivity.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Materials Chemistry, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P.R. China. adamxgli@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Xin-Gui
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qiu-Feng
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Lü
authors.forename: Mei-Rong
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013451:Sulfonic Acids / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D011108:Polymers; D013451:Sulfonic Acids; C416807:polyaniline; D002482:Cellulose; C026170:cellulose diacetate; C003898:2-anisidine