Novel coral-like polyaniline (PANI) sub-micrometer particles were successfully synthesized by adding the aniline monomer aqueous solution into the ammonium persulfate aqueous solution

which is different from the traditional method.It can be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that the surface morphology of the obtained PANI particles was very rough and there were a large amount of nanometer-sized embossment.Three types of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)

namely 1799

1788 and CP-1000

were respectively used as stabilizer.The obtained PANI particles are named as PANI-1

PANI-2 and PANI-3 with average diameter of 250 nm

215 nm and 140 nm.The size distribution also became narrow as the size decreased.Therefore

the solubility of the stabilizer in water and its molecular weight had profound influence on the aggregation and size of PANI particles.The chemical structures

thermostability

crystal structure

electrical property and surface area of the obtained PANI particles were further characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)

powder X-ray diffraction (XRD)

four-probe conductivity meter and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms.The conductivity of PANI particles can attain 2.7 S cm-1.The formation mechanism of the coral-like surface morphology was also discussed.