Novel method of fabrication of polyaniline–CdS nanocomposites: Structural, morphological and optoelectronic properties

Abstract Polyaniline–CdS nanocomposites have been synthesized by spin coating technique. The nanocrystalline CdS powder of particle size 40–50 nm was synthesized by sol–gel technique and the polyaniline was synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline. The composite films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–Vis spectroscopy and Four probe method. The results were compared with corresponding data on pure polyaniline films. The intensity of diffraction peaks for PANi–CdS composites is lower than that for CdS. The conductivity measurement shows that molecular chain constitution of polyaniline is the most important carrier in polyaniline–CdS nano composite. The optical studies showed that variation in band gap of polyaniline (3.40 eV) to 2.54 eV CdS which is attributed to the interaction of CdS nanoparticles with PANi molecular chains.