Related Societies Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES)

Polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers with small diameters and long lengths are of great value. However, it is difficult to synthesize them in a low-acid environment due to the competing coagulation of long-chain oligomers into irregular structures with low solubility.



Qiuyu Zhang and colleagues, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China, reported an effective method to successfully transform irregular PANI structures into nanofibers with a high aspect ratio. The fibers have a diameter of 46–145 nm, are several micrometers long and have a smooth surface. The team prepared them in 0.010 M HCl solution by adding trace superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 microspheres to the reaction system and applying a magnetic field.