Facile fabrication of superhydrophobic flower-like polyaniline architectures by using valine as a dopant in polymerization

► Large-scale, superhydrophobic flower-like PANI architectures were fabricated by using valine as a dopant in polymerization. ► The hydrophobic PANI architectures can be tuned easily by varying the polymerization time and the valine doping quantity. ► Valine plays a key role in both growth of the hierarchical structure and formation of the superhydrophobic surface. ► Similar flower-like PANI architectures were prepared by using other amino acids such as threonine, proline and arginine.