Self-assembled poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) (PACP) hollow spheres were prepared via dilute polymerization under an unstirred condition using ammonia as a polymerization medium.The morphology of the PACP copolymers was studied by choosing several important parameters such as stirring condition

comonomer molar ratio

synthetic media and polymerization time.The morphology

structure and properties of the PACP copolymer spheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy

transmission electron microscopy

FTIR

wide angle X-ray diffraction

thermogravimetric analysis and four-probe technique.It was found that the above-mentioned polymerization conditions had important influence on the morphology of the PACP copolymers.The polymerization parameters could be used to guide the PACP copolymer morphology from flower-like structures to hollow spheres in polymerization process.Uniform self-assembled PACP copolymer hollow spheres with outer diameter and shell thickness of 610～863 nm and 144～162 nm

respectively

formed under the optimal polymerization conditions of an unstirred condition

comonomer concentration of 0.05 mol/L in ammonia solution for 24 h.Moreover

the Ag(Ⅰ) ions adsorbability of the PACP copolymer spheres was examined.TEM and wide angle X-ray diffraction results showed that silver nanoparticles with 10～30 nm size were homogeneously dispersed in the PACP copolymer hollow spheres after adsorption

indicating that the copolymer spheres would had reactive adsorbability of Ag(Ⅰ) ions.