Fabrication and thermal degradation behavior of polystyrene nanoparticles coated with smooth polyaniline

Electrically conductive core–shell polyaniline/polystyrene (PAn/PS) nanoparticles were synthesized in the presence of different surfactants. PS core particles were prepared in microemulsion system and further coated with PAn by using in situ polymerization method. The core–shell structure of PAn/PS nanocomposite was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FTIR measurement. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA) were used to investigate the thermal stability and thermal degradation behavior of PS and PAn-coated PS particles. Both DSC and TGA curves revealed that the coating of a thin PAn layer on the surface of PS can drastically increase the thermal stability of PS matrix. TGA isothermal degradation data illustrate that the activation energy of the PAn/PS particle is larger than PS particle.