Gelation of ionic liquids by the use of fluoroalkyl end‐capped oligomers/polyaniline composites

Hydrophilic R _F ‐(MES) _n ‐R _F /and R _F ‐(AMPS) _n ‐R _F /polyaniline (PAn) nanocomposites were prepared by the polymerization of aniline monomer in the presence of the corresponding oligomers. These fluorinated PAn nanocomposites were able to cause the gelation toward a variety of hydrophilic ionic liquids, although the parent R _F ‐(MES) _n ‐R _F and R _F ‐(AMPS) _n ‐R _F oligomers were not effective for the gelation of such ionic liquids. Oleophilic R _F ‐(DOBAA) _n ‐R _F oligomer has no gelling ability toward the ionic liquids; however, this oligomer was able to disperse well the original PAn powders into methanol to afford the corresponding oligomer/PAn composites. Interestingly, the isolated composite powders after the removal of the solvent were found to cause the gelation toward some oleophilic ionic liquids. In these composites, R _F ‐(MES) _n ‐R _F /PAn nanocomposite/ionic liquid gel (ionogel) was found to provide a higher ionic conductivity than that of the parent ionic liquid under the similar conditions. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:221–228, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers