A new route toward graphene nanosheet/polyaniline composites using a reactive surfactant as polyaniline precursor

•Anilinium dodecylsulfate is a new concept of reactive surfactant.•Anilinium dodecylsulfate can be applied as a precursor of conducting polyaniline via an oxidative polymerization.•Anilinium docedylsulfate was used to produce graphene nanosheet from expanded graphite exfoliation.•Electroactivity and conductivity of graphene nanosheet/polyaniline composites depends on polyaniline loading.

Graphene nanosheet/polyaniline nanocomposites were synthesized using anilium dodecylsulphate (DS-AN) first, as the surfactant to assist expanded graphite exfoliation, and then, as the monomer to synthesize conductive polyaniline. Based on this double functionality, DS-AN is classified as a reactive surfactant. I(G)/I(2D) ratios determined by Raman spectroscopy indicated nanosheet flakes in the range of 20 graphene layers. Similarly, electron microscopy gave also evidence of flakes consisting of layers of graphene in the same order. Concerning composite morphology, both electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy evidenced the formation of a polyaniline layer on the flakes, suggesting DS-AN polymerization occurred directly on the flake surface. Other composite characteristics such as specific surface area, determined by BET method, and electrical conductivity, determined by the four-probe method, showed inverse dependence with respect to polyaniline loading. By contrast, cyclic voltammetry showed, in all cases, increments of electroactivity as function of polyaniline loading.

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