Polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized chemically in an acidic medium in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidizing agent. PANI/montmorillonite nano-composites were prepared in the presence of various amounts of modified clay (from 1 to 5 wt.%) by solution casting method. The free standing film of polyaniline and PANI/clay nano-composites was obtained by vaporization of solvent contain. Products were characterized by FT-IR spectra, SEM image, and XRD pattern. Thermal stability was also studied by TGA analysis, electrical conductivity was measured by four point probe technique and mechanical properties were studied by tensile strength. The PANI/clay nano-composites thermal and mechanical properties were observed to be remarkably improved. For example, polyaniline containing nano-clay has less weight loss compared to pure polyaniline. In addition Young’s modulus and strength at break point was increased in the case of polyaniline containing nano-clay The importance of our work is to provide a narrow look on the thermal and physical properties of polyaniline by the incorporation of montmorillonite into its structure as well as investigation of the conductivity of PANI/MMT nanocomposites as a potential conductive polymer to be used in solar cells or have corrosion protection applications.

In the current work, beach sand (BS) and beach sand coated with polyaniline (BS/Pani) were used as an efficient green adsorbent for dye removal from aqueous solutions. Methylene blue (MB) was chosen as a test probe for the evaluation of the selected adsorbents for dye removal efficiency. The adsorption experiments were carried out in batch system and the effect of some important empirical parameters affecting adsorption processes were then investigated. The experimental data were also analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. Based on the correlation coefficient values obtained (R2), it was found that equilibrium data for both adsorbents fitted well with both models. Adsorption data were also examined by pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models and their respective rate constants were estimated. It was found that sorption of MB dye onto BS/Pani is fitted very well with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Using the equilibrium concentration constants obtained at different temperatures, important thermodynamic parameters of the sorption process were calculated. It was found that the chemically modified beach sand is an effective and low cost adsorbent for dye removal from aqueous solutions.