Eco-friendly synthesis of dendritic polypyrrole/aniline nanocomposite by electro polymerization

Chemistry Department, St. Andrew’s College, Gorakhpur-273 001, Uttar Pradesh, India

E-mail : rani.namita@rediffmail.com

Chemistry Department, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur-273 009, Uttar Pradesh, India

Manuscript received online 07 September 2014, revised 27 October 2014, accepted 24 November 2014

Nanosized dendritic conducting polymer composite of polypyrrole/aniline was synthesized by simple electro polymerization method using pyrrole, aniline and 4-toluene sulphonic acid silver salt (4-TSS) in acetonitrile medium. Fractal, dendrimer and compact morphologies were observed depending on experimental conditions. Growth kinetics during electro polymerization was studied by measuring the weight of polymer aggregates as a function of time, aniline, 4-TSS concentrations and field intensity. On increasing the aniline concentration, the growth rate was reduced and the morphology changed from dendrimer to compact due to interaction of aniline with growing polypyrrole chain. The radius and electrical conductivity of composite were found to depend on field intensity and attained a maximum value at critical field intensity 3.6 V/cm. The polymer composite was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrical conductivity measurements, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic studies (FT-IR). TEM study showed the formation of nanosized polypyrrole/aniline composite with particle size in the range 47–112 nm. The surface morphology of the composite was rod shaped as evident by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). FT-IR results show the interaction between aniline and the growing polymer chain of polypyrrole.