First preparation of optical quality films of nano/micro hollow spheres of polymers of aniline

In the present study, an experimental procedure used to prepare high-quality, transparent, uniform thin film of a new nano/micro material, a new type of polymer of aniline, is described. The method was used to prepare, for the first time, a solid-state thin film of nano/micro material for various types of studies, such as ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemistry. The UV-vis spectra showed that the as-prepared solid thin film of the nano/micro material was apparently not protonated when it was formed in an acidic solution of pH 3.0 since no change in the UV-vis spectrum was observed when it was treated with a deprotonating solution of 1.0 mol dm(-3) of ammonium hydroxide. To our surprise, it was found that the UV-vis spectrum of a nano/micro material deposited on a glass slide was completely different from its solution UV-vis spectrum when the film was dissolved in NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone). The SEM studies showed that the thin film consists of rod-like nanostructures as well as nano/micro spheres. The electrochemical studies showed that the thin film of the nano/micro material deposited on ITO surface presented only one redox process in the potential interval of -0.20 and +0.80 V (versus SCE) in the presence of 1.0 mol dm(-3) hydrochloric acid. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.