Toward designing efficient rice-shaped polyaniline@bismuth oxide nanocomposites for sensor application

Efficient rice-shaped polyaniline@bismuth oxide (PANI@Bi2O3) nanocomposites were synthesized by in situ sol–gel method. The sol of polyaniline was added to the gel of Bi2O3 in different mixing volume ratios of inorganic reactant and with a fixed mixing volume ratio, i.e., 1:1, of organic polymer. The physicochemical characterization was carried out by SEM, XRD, FTIR, UV–Vis and simultaneous TGA studies. PANI@Bi2O3 were deposited on a silver electrode (AgE, surface area, 0.0216 cm2) to give an efficient sensor with a fast response toward the toxic 3-methoxy phenol in liquid phase. The calibration plot is linear (r 2 = 0.9809) over the 0.09 nM to 0.09 mM 3-methoxy phenol concentration ranges. The sensitivity is ~0.8796 µAcm−2 µM−1, and the detection limit is 0.016 ± 0.002 nM (signal-to-noise ratio, at a SNR of 3), which leads to a promising future sensitive sensor development using organic–inorganic nanocomposites by reliable I–V method for the potential applications of hazardous phenolic compounds in environmental and healthcare fields. Schematic diagram for the synthesis of rice-shaped polyaniline@Bi2O3 nanocomposite.