Dilute anionic surfactant solution route to polyaniline rectangular sub-microtubes as a novel nanostructure

A facile and low-cost approach has been developed for tailoring polyaniline rectangular sub-microtubes as a novel nanostructure of a conducting polymer in dilute sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution by the oxidation polymerization of aniline at room temperature. It was found that the size and uniformity of polyaniline rectangular sub-microtubes could be appropriately adjusted by tuning the concentration of aniline and the molar ratio of oxidant to aniline, respectively. The morphological evolution of rectangular sub-microtubes under different reaction times has been followed, and a possible formation mechanism has also been discussed in this report. The directing role of other anionic surfactants with -SO3(-) as the hydrophilic group for constructing polyaniline rectangular sub-microtubes has been investigated in detail.