Synthesis and characterization of C 60 /polyaniline composites from interfacial polymerization

C 60 /polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites have been synthesized by the oxidative polymerization of aniline with ammonium peroxydisulfate in the presence of C 60 by using an interfacial reaction. When compared with the pure PANI nanofibers from the similar process, the diameter of the obtained C 60 /PANI nanofibers was increased because of the encapsulation of C 60 into PANI during aniline polymerization, which resulted from the charge‐transfer interactions between C 60 and aniline fragment in PANI. In addition, the resulting C 60 /PANI nanocomposites synthesized from the low initial C 60 /aniline molar ratio (less than 1:25) showed the homogenous morphology composed of fiber network structures, which has an electrical conductivity as high as 1.1 × 10 −4 S/cm. However, the C 60 /PANI nanocomposites from the higher initial C 60 /aniline molar ratio (more than 1:15) showed the nonuniformly distributed morphology, and the electrical conductivity was decreased to 3.5 × 10 −5 S/cm. Moreover, the C 60 /PANI nanocomposites from the interfacial reaction showed a higher value of electrical conductivity than the mechanically mixed C 60 /PANI blends with the same C 60 content, because of the more evenly distributed microstructures. FTIR, UV–vis, and CV data confirmed the presence of C 60 and the significant charge‐transfer interactions in the resultant nanocomposites, which was responsible for the morphology development of the C 60 /PANI and the variation of the electrical conductivity. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012