Research
Synthesis of Polymers by a Solar Photocatalytic Microreactor System
The present work aimed to study the feasibility of microreaction process for polyaniline synthesis under solar light. A chemical method to prepare polyaniline is presented in which a continuous operated solar photocatalytic microreactor is utilized to promote the polymerization of aniline. The photopolymerization method yields a polymeric material that has been scanned by electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that the initial operating temperature has a positive impact on the rate of polymerization but affects negatively the yield of polyaniline. The yielded of polyaniline is decreased as LHSV of the microreactor increased. An optimum (oxidant/aniline) molar ratio of about1.25 is found to give the maximum yield of polyaniline.Comparison between microreactor´s performance and performance of previous published works were presented. Results of the present study confirmed the feasibility of the solar microreaction process for synthesis of polymeric materials.
