Interfacial synthesis and characterization of polyaniline nanofibers

Polyaniline nanofibers were synthesized by a methylene chloride/water emulsion solely stabilized by CeO2 nanoparticles for the first time. The products were characterized with SEM, TEM, XPS and FT-IR. The polyaniline nanofibers had an average diameter of 65 nm and a length of about 2 μm. Polyaniline/CeO2 composite microspheres with an average diameter of about 1.3 μm were also obtained. The polyaniline nanofibers and polyaniline/CeO2 composite microspheres could be separated by centrifugation. An interfacial polymerization mechanism for the formation of polyaniline nanofibers was proposed.