Synthesis of high-performance one-dimensional polyaniline nanostructures using dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid as soft template

High-performance one-dimensional polyaniline (PANI) nanostructures, i.e. nanotubes and nanofibers were synthesized in the presence of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) aqueous solution, with ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) as oxidant. And the resulting PANI nanotubes possessed the diameters of 350–650 nm and length up to tens of micrometers and PANI nanofibers with diameters of 120–160 nm, respectively. Especially, the PANI nanotubes had a very uniform structure (nearly 100% in nanotubes) and the reaction yield was about 110% (compared to the quantity of aniline in the reaction). The formation mechanism of 1D PANI nanostructures was also proposed. The guide effect of the initial “soft-template” formed by aniline and DBSA was greatly controlled by its content and chemical structures.