High-Throughput Template-Free Continuous Flow Synthesis of Polyaniline Nanofibers

• Rekha Singh^†#
• Karuna Veeramani^†‡#
• Rishab Bajpai^†
• Anil Kumar^*†‡§

• ^† Department of Chemistry, ^‡ IITB-Monash Research Academy,^§ National Centre for Excellence in Technologies for Internal Security (NCETIS), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, 400076, India

The large-scale and high-throughput synthesis of conjugated polymer based nanofibers always remain a challenge for the chemists due to the issues related to secondary nucleation in traditional batch processes. Typically polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers are synthesized under highly dilute conditions resulting in a very low throughput of few hundred milligrams per hour and a low space-time yield (STY) of 1–2 g·L–1·h–1. In this manuscript, we report the continuous flow synthesis of PANI nanofibers which results in high throughput (17–30 g·h–1) and high space-time yield (140–450 g·L–1·h–1). These polyaniline nanofibers show high surface area (42 m2·g–1), high specific capacitance (577 F·g–1), and high crystallinity. Finally, the present method is generic in nature and, in principle, can be extended for the synthesis of nanofibers of other conjugated polymers via oxidative polymerization.

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