Fabricating and Tailoring Polyaniline (PANI) Nanofibers with High Aspect Ratio in a Low‐Acid Environment in a Magnetic Field

In a 0.010 m HCl solution, we successfully transformed irregular polyaniline (PANI) agglomerates into uniform PANI nanofibers with a diameter of 46–145 nm and a characteristic length on the order of several microns by the addition of superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ microspheres in a magnetic field. The PANI morphological evolution showed that the PANI nanofibers stemmed from the PANI coating shell synthesized on the surface of the Fe₃O₄ microsphere chains. It was found that the magnetic field could optimize the PANI nanofibers with a narrow diameter size distribution, and effectively suppressed secondary growth. When compared with other microspheres (like silica and polystyrene), only the use of superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ microspheres resulted in the appearance of PANI nanofibers. Attempts to form these high‐quality PANI nanofibers in other concentrations of HCl solution were unsuccessful. This deficiency was largely attributed to the inappropriate quantity of aniline cations.     

Cover Picture: A Spin‐Crossover Cluster of Iron(II) Exhibiting a Mixed‐Spin Structure and Synergy between Spin Transition and Magnetic Interaction (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 8/2009)

A spin‐crossover cluster with the {Fe^II₄O₄} core structure is presented by D. Y. Wu, O. Sato et al. in their Communication on page 1475 ff. The cluster is synthesized by self‐assembly and shows an abrupt spin transition, giving two high‐spin and two low‐spin states. It exhibits complete light‐induced excited spin‐state trapping effects. Importantly, synergy effects between the magnetic interaction and spin transition operate in the cluster.