A facile synthetic strategy for mesoporous crystalline copper–polyaniline composite

A facile and novel strategy for preparing mesoporouscrystalline copper–polyaniline composite is reported wherein the reaction is carried out at room temperature using copper nitrate as the oxidizing agent and methanol as the solvent. The composite obtained as a precipitate has been characterized using UV–visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption method, Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) method, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The XRD studies in conjunction with the BJH method reveals that the composite has crystalline nature with a mesoporous structure and has a diameter of 3.5 nm. The specific surface area of copper–polyaniline composite is estimated to be as high as 63.2 m2 g−1 using the BET surface area plot. The characterization of the filtrate indicates the presence of pernigraniline with a very small weight percent of copper.

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► A novel strategy for preparing mesoporous crystalline copper–polyaniline composite.
► Pore diameter of 3.5 nm and surface area of 63.2 m2 g−1.
► Simultaneous synthesis of pernigraniline and copper–polyaniline composite at room temperature.