Conducting Polymer Nanocomposites with Sol-gel Prepared CuO Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Physical Properties

This research work describes synthesis of conducting polymer nanocomposites of polyaniline (PANI) with nanodimensional copper oxide (CuO) by in-situ oxidative polymerization method in presence of (NH4)2S2O8 (APS) as oxidant agent. The CuO nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and varied in different weight percentages in nanocomposites. Physical properties of nanocomposites were characterized by XRD,FT-IR, SEM, TEM, TGA and UV–visible techniques. Structural analysis showed that deposited PANI on the surface of CuO nanoparticles has no effect on crystallization of CuO. Surface morphology study showed the uniform distribution of nano-CuO in PANI. FTIR and UV–visible studies confirmed incorporation of CuO in polymer chains. Four probe electrical resistivity measurements of nanocomposites revealed that the resistivity of PANI increases with increasing content of CuO nanoparticles. TGA data indicated that the PANI/CuO nanocomposites have high thermal stability and decompose at higher temperature than that of PANI