Synthesis, structural, morphological, compositional and electrical transport properties of polyaniline/α-Fe2O3 hybrid nanocomposites

• Solid state synthesis of PAni–Fe2O3 hybrid nanocomposites.
• PAni–Fe2O3 hybrid nanocomposites showed higher oxidation and doping degree than pure PAni.
• A PAni–Fe2O3 hybrid nanocomposite shows semiconducting behavior.
• α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed in the in the PAni matrix.

Polyaniline (PAni) have been successively synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using ammonium peroxidisulphate [(NH4)2S2O8] as an oxidant in an aqueous solution of 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a dopant. Sol gel method was employed for the formation of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NP's). PAni/α-Fe2O3 hybrid nanocomposites were prepared by solid state synthesis method by considering PAni as the host matrix. In the hybrid nanocomposite, α-Fe2O3 content was varied from 10 to 50 wt% in the PAni matrix. Films of PAni/α-Fe2O3 (10–50%) hybrid nanocomposites were prepared by simple and inexpensive drop casting method on the glass substrates and characterized by using various techniques viz. XRD, FTIR, FESEM, AFM, contact angle measurement, UV–vis spectroscopy, XPS and two probe technique. The results of XRD, FTIR, FESEM, AFM, UV–vis spectroscopy and XPS techniques demonstrate that, the strong interaction between PAni and α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. Surface wettability is studied by using double-distilled water drops for contact angle measurements.Electrical transport studies on hybrid nanocomposite revealed that the dc electrical conductivity of PAni decreases as content of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles increases.

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