Thermally stable polypyrrole–Mn doped Fe(III) oxide nanocomposite sandwiched in graphene layer: Synthesis, characterization with tunable electrical conductivity

We have manifested a novel approach to fabricate metal oxide supported conducting polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites which are sandwiched by graphene layers with regular surface morphology. This method is based on the electrostatic interactions of positively charged surfactant micelles and negatively charged graphene oxide sheets followed by reduction. The prepared composites including pure materials are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Föurier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy etc. Enhanced thermal stability of this hybrid composite is ascribed to the more compact structure of PPy reinforced by metal oxide nanoparticles inserted between thermally stable graphene layers. These hybrid composites exhibit significant increase in electrical conductivity from 7.93 × 10−3 S/cm to 2.9 S/cm with respect to pure PPy, and that can be tuned to 50.9 S/cm with variation of Mn doped Fe(III) oxide nanoparticles loading. The hybrid composites behave like semiconductor and follow 3D variable range hopping model through the whole range of experimental temperature (50–300 K).

► Novel synthesis and characterization of PPy-metal oxide NCs sandwiched by graphene. ► These hybrid materials behaved as a semiconductor (50–300 K). ► They exhibited significantly high tunable electrical conductivity. ► This material exhibited remarkable enhancement in thermal stability of PPy chain. ► Our method opens a new avenue to develop sandwiched architecture by graphene layer.