Ammonia sensing and DC electrical conductivity studies of p-toluene sulfonic acid doped cetyltrimethylammonium bromide assisted V2O5@polyaniline composite nanofibers

•V2O5@Pani fibers were prepared by simple oxidative polymerization technique.•The electrical conductivity got enhanced after incorporation of V2O5 in Pani.•V2O5@Pani showed superior ammonia sensing and recovery response in comparison to Pani.

This paper reports the synthesis of V2O5@polyaniline (Pani) composite nanofibers by the in situ oxidative polymerization of aniline in the presence of V2O5 and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, as a surfactant. The prepared composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–visible diffused reflectance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The V2O5@Pani composite nanofibers showed higher DC electrical conductivity than Pani, which might be due to the increased mobility of the charge carriers after the incorporation of V2O5. V2O5@Pani also showed a better ammonia sensing and recovery response than Pani due to the synergistic effect of V2O5 and Pani.

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