Preparation of the γ‐Al₂O₃/PANI nanocomposite via enzymatic polymerization

Abstract Peroxidase‐catalyzed template‐guided polymerization of aniline in the presence of γ‐ alumina nanosheet (NS) particles have been carried out in aqueous media and γ‐Al₂O₃/PANI nanocomposite was obtained. The polymerization of aniline occurred in aqueous solution in the presence of SPS (sulfonated polystyrene) as a template and SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) as a surfactant. Both obtained nanocomposites were comparable by SEM images. It was demonstrated that the γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SPS nanocomposite has higher conductivity and the γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SDS nanocomposite has higher void areas. The higher conductivity of γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SPS nanocomposite is attributed to the higher coated areas of γ‐Al₂O₃ NS during polymerization in comparison with γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SDS which are not coated efficiently as the former. The FT‐IR studies showed that the γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI nanocomposite was formed by interaction of the polyaniline (PANI) and γ‐Al₂O₃ NS. FTIR also showed that the amount of PANI in γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SPS is more than in γ‐Al₂O₃ NS/PANI‐SDS. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers