An unexpected approach to enhance specific surface area and mesopore amount of polyaniline by Zn doping

Abstract Poly‐ p ‐anisidine could be easily fabricated via the oxidative polymerization reaction of p‐anisidine using H 2 O 2 as the green oxidant. It was unexpectedly found that zinc doping could significantly improve the adsorption ability of the material versus heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Pd, Ag and Hg. Results of nitrogen adsorption–desorption experiments demonstrated that Zn doping could enhance the specific surface area and mesopore amount of the prepared material, which might facilitate its absorption to metals. This work not only provides a novel material for the treatment of heavy metal‐polluted water but also leads to a nice mesoporous catalyst support for environment protection and organic synthesis, i.e. the Zn‐doped poly‐p‐anisidine can be employed as the catalyst support to prepare Cu@PANI‐OMe/Zn or Pd@PANI‐OMe/Zn for the oxidative degradation reaction of phenol or Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions, respectively. It discloses a new strategy for fabricating the mesoporous polyaniline materials with profound application potential.