One-Step Synthesis, Characterization, and Properties of Emeraldine Salt Nanofibers Containing Gold Nanoparticles

This paper reports a simple one-step synthesis of gold nanospheres/polyaniline (PANI) nanofiber composites via the modification of the interfacial synthesis of PANI, leading to hybrid materials with emeraldine salt fibers as one of the components. Their morphological and structural characterizations are presented, as well as their electrochemical behaviors. The composites were submitted to heating treatment and UV-visible light radiation, and the products were characterized. Our results showed that the presence of the gold nanoparticles improved the thermal behavior of the composites, increasing the onset temperature. The electroactivity and capacity of the composites were enhanced when compared to PANI-ES, and their behaviors are dependent on the amount of gold nanoparticles in the composites. Submitting to heating treatment and UV-visible light irradiation, the PANI-ES nanofibers presented low dedoping and an extensive formation of cross-linking segments for both treatments, whereas the composites showed a high dedoping process and no cross-linking formation for the heating treatment and high cross-linking formation with no change in the doping level for the UV-visible light irradiation. Our results suggest that the PANI-Au composites may be a promising material for the use in capacitors, solar cells, and other devices.