Morphology studies of doped polyaniline micro/nanocomposites containing TiO₂ nanoparticles and Fe₃O₄ microparticles

Abstract To produce polyaniline (PAni) nanodevices that display excellent microwave absorbing behaviors, novel hexanoic acid‐doped PAni micro/nanocomposites containing TiO₂ nanoparticles and Fe₃O₄ microparticles (PAni/HA/TiO₂/Fe₃O₄) were prepared by template‐free method, particularly to improve the dielectric and magnetic property of PAni. PAni/HA/TiO₂/Fe₃O₄ synthesized at different polymerization temperatures and polymerization time by various TiO₂ and Fe₃O₄ contents, and particles size of TiO₂ were prepared. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of synthesis condition on the morphology behaviors of nanorods/tubes. The resulted nanorods/tubes indicated that PAni micro/nanocomposites exhibited polymerization through elongation. PAni micro/nanocomposites synthesized at 0°C resulted in large amounts of nanorods/tubes compared with those synthesized at subzero temperature and above 0°C. PAni/HA/TiO₂ and PAni/HA/TiO₂/Fe₃O₄ synthesized using TiO₂ with diameter (particles size) 180 nm resulted in large amounts of nanorods/tubes (diameter nanorods/tubes = 80–140 nm) compared with those synthesized using TiO₂ with diameter of 30 and 6 nm. Increasing TiO₂ and Fe₃O₄ content above 10% will significantly reduce the amount of nanorods/tubes. In conclusion, synthesis parameters mentioned above are the significant factors that might affect the morphology behaviors of PAni nanostructures. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers