Preparation and characterization of polyaniline microrods synthesized by using dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid and periodic acid

The preparation of polyaniline (PANI) microrod arrays in the presence of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSAH), a structure-directing agent, and in the presence of periodic acid (H5IO6), an oxidant in aqua-acidic media, was investigated. DBSAH was performed to distinguish the roles of both surfactant and dopant. The method of preparation of DBSAH and H5IO6 doped PANI (DBSAH–PANI) microrods in a reversed micelle had previously not been reported. The characterizations of the PANI microrods were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Based on the SEM results, we found that PANI microrods occur in the presence of DBSAH in the polymerization medium, while the XRD results showed that PANI–DBSA gave clearer crystallinity than PANI. At room temperature, the DC conductivities of pure PANI and PANI–DBSA were 9.5 × 10 ^−2 S/cm and 9.2 × 10 ^−2 S/cm–4 × 10 ^−2 S/cm, respectively, based on the molar ratio of DBSA. The experimental results suggested that it is possible to control both the electrical conductivities and the crystal structures of PANI microrods with DBSAH dopants’ incorporation level.