Fabrication of honeycomb-patterned polyaniline composite films using chemically modified polyaniline nanoparticles

A novel polyaniline composite was prepared by in situ ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone in the presence of chemically modified polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI-NPs) using Sn(Oct)2 as an initiator, which exhibited a high solubility in organic solvent to enable the fabrication of stable honeycomb-patterned thin films by casting the PANI composite solutions under humid conditions. The chemically modified PANI-NPs were produced from the polymerization of aniline in the cationic surfactant of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). The polyaniline composites were characterized via Fourier transform infrared, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and thermogravimetry. The analyses indicated that the PANI-NPs were well incorporated in the poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) backbone. The patterned PANI composite films showed high DC conductivity up to 10−2 S/cm, which can be useful in applications such as bio-sensing, bio-nanotechnology, biological science, and medicine.