Synthesis of Aniline - Pyrrole Copolymer Nanostructures by the Pulsed Galvanostatic Polymerization

In this work, aniline- pyrrole copolymer (APC) nanoparticles are synthesized by the pulsed galvanostatic polymerization method. Two cylindrical platinum grid electrodes with diameters of 1 and 3cm are used as coaxial in the electrochemical cell containing aniline, pyrrole and HCl solution. Aniline and pyrrole are directly oxidized to aniline and pyrrole cation radicals as polymeric precursors on the surface of platinum anode. The effects of synthesis parameters such as pulsed current value, pulse time (ton), relaxation time (toff), temperature and concentrations of aniline, pyrrole and hydrochloric acid are studied and opimized by the one factor at a time method. The optimized conditions include 0.1 M pyrrole, 0.1 M aniline and 0.12 M hydrochloric acid, 9 mAcm(-2) current density, 1 s t(on), 1s t(off) and solution temperature of 1 degrees C. The synthesized nanomaterials are filtered and washed with 0.12 M hydrochloric acid solution and finally washed with double-distilled water. The obtained precipitate is dried at 80 degrees C for 90 min under vaccum. The synthesized samples are characterized by SEM, TEM, DLS, TGA/DTA, IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy and Cyclic Voltammetry. The final sample consisting spherical nanoparticles with mean diameter smaller than 10 nm.