Surface modification of TiO2 nanoparticles by polyaniline

A composite of polyaniline (PAn) encapsulating titania (TiO2) with nanometer size was prepared by the oxidating aniline hydrochloride with ammonium peroxodisulfate in the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles. The obtained composite was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR), Fourier-transform Raman spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The conductivity was also investigated. FTIR and FT-Raman spectra measurements show that PAn and TiO2 nanoparticles are not simply blended or mixed up, and a strong interaction exists at the interface of nano-TiO2 and PAn. It is probably a composite at molecular level. TGA results suggests that PAn/nano-TiO2 composite contains 10% PAn by mass. The conductivity of PAn/nano-TiO2 composite has reached 2.9×10−2 S cm−1 at 20 °C but the morphology and crystallinity of nano-TiO2 were unchanged.