Comb-Shaped Supramolecules Based on Protonated Polyaniline and Their Self-Organization into Nanoscale Structures: Polyaniline Sulfonates/Zinc Sulfonates

A concept is demonstrated for comb-shaped supramolecules based on dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid-doped polyaniline, i.e., PANI(DBSA) 0.5, by complexation with zinc dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Zn(DBS) 2 . Model studies using related protonated single crystalline bipyridine oligomers suggest that Zn(DBS) 2 molecules are bonded by Zn 2+ - and water-mediated hydrogen bonds to the sulfonates of PANI(DBSA) 0.5 . The comb-shaped supramolecules, denoted as PANI(DBSA) 0.5 [Zn(DBS) 2 ] x with x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, and 1.5, self-organize as lamellar structures due to the repulsion between the alkyl chains and the polar moieties leading to plasticized materials. So far, the conductivity levels are low, i.e., in the range 10 -7 S/cm, potentially requiring optimization of the lengths and the amounts of side groups. The concept allows generalization to complex functional groups along sulfonic acid protonated polyaniline chains.