Electrochemical synthesis and in situ spectroelectrochemistry of conducting polymer nanocomposites. I. polyaniline/TiO2, polyaniline/ZnO,and polyaniline/TiO2+ZnO

The polyaniline (PAn), polyaniline/titanium dioxide (PAn/TiO₂), polyaniline/zinc oxide (PAn/ZnO), and a novel conducting polymer nanocomposites, polyaniline/titanium dioxide + zinc oxide (PAn/TiO₂+ZnO), were synthesized by in situ electropolymerization and potential cycling on gold electrode. The PAn and nanocomposite films were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, Fourier transform infra‐red (FTIR) spectroscopy, in situ resistivity measurements, in situ UV–Visible, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The differences between cathodic and anodic peaks of three redox couples were obtained for PAn and polymeric nanocomposite films. During cathodic and anodic scans, the shift of potential was observed for polymer nanocomposite films. The characteristic FTIR peaks of PAn were found to shift to lower wavelengthsin polymer nanocomposite films. These observed effects have been attributed to interaction of TiO₂, ZnO, and TiO₂+ZnO particles with PAn molecular chains. Significant differences from in situ resistivity of PAn and nanocomposite films were obtained. The resistance of PAn/TiO₂, PAn/ZnO, and PAn/TiO₂+ZnO films were found to be smaller than the PAn film. The in situ UV–Visible spectra for Pan and polymer nanocomposite films were studied. The results show the intermediate spectroscopic properties between PAn and polymer nanocomposite films. The morphological analyses of PAn and nanocomposite films have been investigated. The nanocomposites SEM and TEM micrographs suggest that the inorganic semiconductor particles were incorporated in organic conducting polymer, which consequently modifies the morphology of the films significantly. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:351–363, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers