Synthesis and characterization of poly(3-methyl thiophene) nanospheres in magnetic ionic liquid

Poly(3-methyl thiophene) nanospheres with their size ranging around 50-60 nm have been synthesized by simply adding monomers into a magnetic ionic liquid, Bmim[FeCl4]. The ionic liquid leads to the formation of uniform nanospheres with a relatively narrow size distribution confined to submicrometer-sized domains. The poly(3-methyl thiophene) nanospheres were characterized by FTIR, Raman and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to show the morphology of the samples. As compared with the conventional Solution polymerization method, the polymerization yield and conductivity of the polymers produced in this magnetic ionic liquid system were improved. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.