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Nanocomposite and Nanoporous Polyaniline Conducting Polymers Exhibit Enhanced Catalysis of Nitrite Reduction
Author(s) -
Luo Xiliang,
Killard Anthony J.,
Smyth Malcolm R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200601248
Subject(s) - polyaniline , materials science , nanocomposite , nanoporous , nanoparticle , polystyrene , chemical engineering , electrode , conductive polymer , polymer , nanotechnology , composite material , polymerization , chemistry , engineering
Nanostructured polyaniline (PANI) conducting polymer films were prepared on electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon electrodes, which were previously modified with multilayers of polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles with a diameter of 100 nm. PANI was electropolymerised and grown through the interstitial spaces between the PS nanoparticles, which formed a nanocomposite film of PANI and PS nanoparticles on the electrode surface. Furthermore, a nanoporous PANI film was fabricated through the removal of the PS nanoparticles by dissolution in toluene. As a result of their nanostructure, both of the PANI films (before and after removal of the PS nanoparticles) exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic behaviour towards the reduction of nitrite relative to bulk‐PANI films; however, partial collapse or shrinkage may have occurred with the removal of the nanoparticles and could have resulted in a less enhanced response. Under optimised conditions, the nanocomposite‐film‐modified electrode exhibited a fast response time of 5 s and a linear range from 5.0×10 −7 to 1.4×10 −3 M for the detection of nitrite; the detection limit was 2.4×10 −7 M at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 3.