Polyaniline–polyelectrolyte–gold(0) ternary nanocomposites: Synthesis and electrochemical properties

Ternary composites based on polyaniline (PAni), a polyelectrolyte-namely poly(diallyldimethylammoniumchloride) (PDDMAC) and gold (Au(0)) nanoparticles have been formulated and synthesized where the high concentration of PDDMAC acted as medium of reaction. The nanocomposites are characterized by FT-IR, UV–vis, XRD, XPS, SEM, AFM and TEM techniques. XRD showed the presence of all three viz., polyaniline, PDDMAC and Au(0) components in the ternary system. The composites exhibited higher conductivities in the range 26 × 10⁻⁶ to 217 × 10⁻⁶ S/cm compared with the binary composite of PAni–PDDMAC. The ternary composites were adsorbed on a GC electrode and used for sensing dopamine. The composites are useful in sensing as low as 0.05 mM concentration of dopamine at lower potential values compared to some binary PAni–Au nanocomposites.