Autoreduction of metal cations for polyaniline nanofiber and metal nanoparticle composites

PMSE 71

Christina O. Baker, cbaker@chem.ucla.edu1, Brian Shedd2, Robert W. Kojima, kojima@chem.ucla.edu1, Ricky Tseng3, Yang Yang3, and Richard B. Kaner, kaner@chem.ucla.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Box 951569, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (2) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 48-121 Engineering IV, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (3) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 3049 Engineering I, 420 Westwood Plaza Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Polyaniline, a well-known conducting polymer, has the ability to spontaneously reduce various metal cations due to its unique redox properties. By controlling the reaction conditions, including temperature, reaction time and concentration of analytes different structures and sizes of metal nanoparticles can be made decorating the surface of polyaniline nanofibers. This is in contrast to composites made on conventional polyaniline where the size and shape distribution tends to be greater. At low temperatures (0 °C) very small metal nanoparticles are capable of being synthesized (< 5 nm) and have found utility in several applications including non-volatile memory and catalysis. These composites are especially promising because of the unique charge transfer that occurs between the conjugated polymer and the metal nanocomposites, which may contribute to particle stabilization and non-volatile memory applications. With our increased understanding of the reaction conditions we can now work towards tuning these composites for improved use in these and other applications.
 

Synthesis and Self-Assembly Approaches to Polymer-Inorganic Hybrid Nanoparticles
8:30 AM-12:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Hilton New Orleans Riverside -- Grand Salon 24, Oral

Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008