Preparation of the γ-Al2O3/PANI Nanocomposite via Enzymatic Polymerization

Peroxidase-catalyzed template-guided polymerization of aniline in the presence of gamma-alumina nanosheet (NS) particles have been carried out in aqueous media and gamma-Al2O3/PANI nanocomposite was obtained. The polymerization of aniline occurred in aqueous solution in the presence of SPS (sulfonated polystyrene) as a template and SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) as a surfactant. Both obtained nanocomposites were comparable by SEM images. It was demonstrated that the gamma-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SPS nanocomposite has higher conductivity and the gamma-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SDS nanocomposite has higher void areas. The higher conductivity of gamma-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SPS nanocomposite is attributed to the higher coated areas of gamma-Al2O3 NS during polymerization in comparison with gamma-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SDS which are not coated efficiently as the former. The FT-IR studies showed that the gamma-Al2O3 NS/PAN1 nanocomposite was formed by interaction of the polyaniline (PANI) and gamma-Al2O3 NS. FTIR also showed that the amount of PANI in gamma-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SPS is more than in y-Al2O3 NS/PANI-SDS. POLYM. COMPOS., 30:841-846, 2009. (C) 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers