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A Precursor Approach to Electrospun Polyaniline Nanofibers for Gas Sensors
Author(s) -
Uh Kyungchan,
Kim Taegeun,
Lee Chan Woo,
Kim JongMan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201600238
Subject(s) - electrospinning , polyaniline , materials science , nanofiber , fabrication , polyaniline nanofibers , chemical engineering , chloroform , conductive polymer , polymer , fiber , tetrahydrofuran , polymer chemistry , polymerization , nanotechnology , composite material , solvent , organic chemistry , chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Polyaniline (PANI) has served as one of the most promising conducting materials in a variety of fields including sensors, actuators, and electrodes. Fabrication of 1D PANI fibers using electrospinning methods has gained a significant amount of attention. Due to the extremely poor solubility of PANI in common organic solvents, fabrication of electrospun PANI fiber has been carried out either by using corrosive solvents such as H 2 SO 4 or by electrospinning in the presence of other matrix polymers. Herein, a new approach to the fabrication of PANI fibers using tert ‐butyloxycarbonyl‐protected PANI ( t ‐Boc PANI) as the conducting polymer precursor is reported. The t ‐Boc PANI is soluble in common organic solvents (e.g., chloroform and tetrahydrofuran), and electrospinning of t ‐Boc PANI in those solvents affords nano/micrometer‐sized t ‐Boc PANI fibers. Treatment of the electrospun t ‐Boc PANI fibers with HCl results in the removal of the acid labile t ‐Boc group and the generation of conducting (≈20 S cm −1 ) PANI fibers. The HCl‐doped PANI fibers are successfully used in the detection of gaseous ammonia with a detection limit of 10 ppm.