Engineering detonation nanodiamond – Polyaniline composites by electrochemical routes: Structural features and functional characterizations

Novel detonation nanodiamond (DND) - polyaniline (PANI) composite systems have been prepared by electrochemical polymerization techniques. Thanks to the use of two different electrochemical methods, i.e. cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, it has been possible to emphasize the influence of DND particles on the nucleation mechanism of the conducting polymer. In particular, the presence of DND into the reaction environment has proven to modulate the organization of the aniline oligomers into π-stacked aggregates and to induce the production of one-dimensional nanostructures. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the morphology of the final composites. The protonated conducting form of the PANI matrix has been evidenced by Raman spectroscopy and the ionic/electronic transport of the PANI-DND systems was tested by means of electrocatalysis measurements toward the iodine/iodide redox couple. Based on the present experimental data, the use of nanodiamond as filler for conducting polymer based nanocomposite represents not only a fascinating challenge for the production of advanced technological applications but it can also be exploited for the controlled growth of polymeric units and for the fabrication of tailored polymeric architectures.