Doping polyaniline with pristine carbon nanotubes into electroactive nanocomposite in neutral and alkaline media

This study describes a facile but effective route to synthesis of electroactive polyaniline (PANI) in the neutral and alkaline media simply with pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as the dopant. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies reveal that the SWNT/PANI nanocomposite processes a good electrochemical activity in the neutral and alkaline media. Control experiments with PANI mixed with heat-treated SWNTs imply that the electrochemical properties of the SWNT/PANI nanocomposite in the neutral and alkaline media do not result from the presence of carboxylic groups at SWNTs themselves, and in turn show that the pristine SWNTs can be potentially used as a new and effective dopant to preserve the electrochemical property of PANI in the neutral and alkaline media. This property of the SWNT/PANI nanocomposite is reasonably envisaged to be promising for electrochemical investigations and electroanalytical applications, especially for the development of electrochemical sensors, biosensors and biofuel cells. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.