Thermal stability of HCl-doped-polyaniline and TiO2 nanoparticles-based nanocomposites

Electrically conductive HCl doped polyaniline (Pani) : titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites thin films were prepared by in-situ oxidative polymerization of aniline in the presence of different amounts of TiO2 nanoparticles. Later film casting was done using N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as a solvent. The formation of Pani : TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The stability of the nanocomposites in terms of direct-current electrical conductivity retention was studied in air by isothermal and cyclic techniques. The films of Pani : TiO2 nanocomposites were observed thermally more stable under ambient environmental conditions than pure polyaniline film. The stability was seen to be highly dependent on the content of TiO2 nanoparticles in the nanocomposite films. Due to their high stability, such type of nanocomposites can find place as a replacement material for pure polyaniline in electrical and electronic devices. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011