Interfacial polymerization to high-quality polyacrylamide/polyaniline composite hydrogels

Conducting polymer hydrogels composed of polyacrylamide (PAAm) and polyaniline (PAn) have been successfully synthesized through the interfacial polymerization. Compared to the conventional preparation methods, the interfacial polymerization is much more economical and effective because the PAn formed at the water/organic-solvent interface assembles spontaneously and exclusively into the PAAm hydrogel. In contrast to conventional materials, the resulting PAAm/PAn composite hydrogel exhibits high qualities including homogeneous structure, enhanced mechanical toughness, high electrical conductivity and the ability to reversibly interconvert between the doped and dedoped states. As-described interfacial polymerization for the fabrication of conducting polymer hydrogels does not depend on specific kinds of organic solvents or acid dopants.