Preparation of polyaniline
PANI was synthesized in our laboratory following the procedure
given by Syed and Dinesan [38,39]. Doubly distilled
aniline, 15.35 g (0.33 mol/l) was initially dissolved in 500 ml
of 1 mol/l HCl. To this 36.5 g (0.32 mol/l) of ammonium peroxydisulfate
was slowly added while stirring. The reaction was
allowed to continue for 1.5 h at room temperature. The insoluble
black precipitate of polyaniline thus formedwas filtered,washed
thoroughly with Millipore water then by acetonitrile (in order
to remove soluble species), and again with water and dried. The
resultant material was ground in a ceramic mortar and sieved to
get 100–150 mesh.