Optical and electrical properties of polyaniline‐cadmium sulfide nanocomposite

Abstract Polyaniline‐cadmium sulfide nanocomposite has been synthesized by the chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline with ammonium peroxodisulfate as an initiator in presence of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles. TEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, UV–vis spectroscopy, and photoluminescence studies were done for the structural, thermal and optical characterization of the samples. The particle size of nanocomposites lies in between 7 and 10 nm. XRD spectrum shows that polyaniline is amorphous, but peaks present in the spectrum of polymer nanocomposites are for cadmium sulfide nanoparticles. TGA result shows that nanocomposite is more thermally stable. The band gap of nanocomposite decreases with increasing content of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles. An enhancement in photoluminescence has been observed in the nanocomposite than that in pure polyaniline. The dc and ac electronic transport property of polyaniline cadmium sulfide composites has been investigated within a temperature range 77 ≤ T ≤ 300 K and in the frequency range 20 Hz–1 MHz. The dc conductivity follows variable range hopping (VRH) model. The ac conductivity follows a power law whereas the temperature dependence of frequency exponent s can be explained by correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model. The dielectric behavior of the samples has been explained in terms of the grain and grain boundary resistance and capacitance. POLYM. COMPOS., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers