Sub‐micrometer‐sized tube junctions and dendrites of conducting polyaniline (e.g., see Figure) and polypyrrole have been synthesized through a self‐assembly process for the first time. It is shown that the monomer–dopant micelles act as templates for the self‐assembly of sub‐micrometer‐sized tubes, while the interactions among the polymer chains supply the driving force for micelle aggregation and the formation of junctions and dendrites.

Chiral nanotubes of polyaniline (PANI) were successfully synthesized by a template-free method in the presence of (S)-( 2)-2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylic acid [(S)-PCA)] or (R)-(1)-2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylic acid [(R)-PCA] as the dopant for the first time. The tubular morphologies of the resulting PANI-(S)-PCA and PANI-(R)-PCA were confirmed by SEM and TEM images. The tubes are 80-220 nm in outer diameter and 50-130 nm in inner diameter. It was proposed that the micelles of aniline-(S)-PCA or (R)-PCA, which were formed due to the hydrophobic aniline and the hydrophilic -COOH group of PCA, played a ''template'' role during the formation of the chiral nanotubes. These chiral nanotubes showed optically active and electrical properties. In particular, a positive and a negative Cotton effect corresponding to a helical screw of the polymer main chains was observed in the chiral nanotubes. The structural characterization measured by FTIR and X-ray diffraction indicated that the configuration of PCA did not affect the main chains of the chiral nanotubes; however, short-range ordering at 2h ~6.43 (d ~13.73 A ˚) was significantly observed from the chiral nanotubes, which might result from the chiral character of the dopant.