Hydrothermal synthesis of polyaniline-iron oxide nano-composite materials

Polyaniline nanomaterials and its iron oxide nanocomposites were fabricated by combining hydrothermal synthesis and template-free polymerization method. The morphology and composition of as-synthesized composites can be controlled by changing the concentration of ferric chloride, which act as oxidant, dopant and reactant at the same time in process of polymerization. When the concentration of ferric chloride is lower than 0.13 mol/L, the composition of the product are eigenstates polyaniline and α-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposites, the morphology of the product are sub-microscale quasi-cube self-assembled by nanoparticles; If the concentration of ferric chloride increased to 0.20 mol/L, the composition of the product changed to doped polyaniline nanomaterial, the morphology of the as-synthesized changed to dahlia-like microsphere self-assembled by nanolamellar structure. And the diameter of products increases with the increase of ferric chloride. By means of SEM, FTIR, UV-Vis, XPS and XRD, microstructure and composition of the products were characterized, and formation mechanism are also addressed.