Polyaniline microtubes synthesized via supercritical CO2 and aqueous interfacial polymerization

We report a new route to prepare polyaniline (PANI) microtubes via supercritical (SC) CO2/aqueous interfacial polymerization. The synthesis is based on the well-known chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in an acidic environment, with ammonium peroxydisufate (APS) as the oxidant, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant was used as the template. The main feature of this route is that the monomer (aniline) which is dissolved in SC CO2 phase, slowly polymerized at the interface of SC CO2 and aqueous solution to form the PANI microtubes. The morphologies, phase structure, composition and some properties of PANI microtubes were characterized by TEM, SEM, XRD, IR, XPS UV–vis and SYSTEM DM digital multimeter, respectively.