Synthesis and evaluation of gas sensing properties of PANI based graphene oxide nanocomposites

Polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers and Polyaniline/Graphene Oxide (PANI/GO), Polyaniline/Graphene Oxide/Zinc Oxide (PANI/GO/ZnO) nanocomposites were successfully prepared by nanoemulsion method. The synthesized nanofibers and nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), has showed the evidence of interaction between PANI nanofibers, GO nanosheets and ZnO nanoparticles, respectively. PANI nanofibers and nanocomposites were used for the sensing of NH3, LPG, CO2 and H2S gases respectively at room temperature. It was observed that the PANI nanofibers and PANI/GO, PANI/GO/ZnO nanocomposites with different weight ratios of ZnO and GO had better selectivity and sensitivity towards NH3 at room temperature. Best performance was shown by PANI/GO/ZnO nanocomposite response of 5.706 (10.3 times better response than PANI sensor) for 1000 ppm NH3 at 80 ± 1 °C with the recovery time of 1 min 30 s only.