Nanostructuring of poly(diphenylamine) inside the galleries of montmorillonite organo clay through self-assembly approach

Hollow spheres of poly(diphenylamine) (PDPA) was prepared by confining PDPA in the galleries of montmorillonite organo clay modified with organoammonium cations (MMT). At first instant, diphenylamine (DPA) was loaded into the galleries of MMT and subjected to subsequent oxidative polymerization to form PDPA. β-naphthalene sulfonic acid (NSA) was used as medium to influence self-assembly of DPA inside the galleries of MMT. Polymerization of self assembled structure resulted hollow spheres of PDPA inside galleries of MMT. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the composites. Transmission emission microscopy of the composite shows the hollow spherical morphology of PDPA. FT-IR, UV-Visible spectroscopy, conductivity measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the PDPA extracted from MMT galleries. PDPA extracted from MMT galleries was found to have difference in electronic property than PDPA formed by the conventional method, due to the confinement effect.