Synthesis, conductivity and sensitivity studies of polyaniline – iron oxide nanocomposites

Polyaniline and polyaniline/Iron oxide nanocomposites were synthesized by in-situ polymerization technique. The formation of PANI/Iron oxide nanocomposites with regards to the structural properties of the materials were investigated by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques.The crystallite size of iron oxide was found to be 36 nm as indicated by (XRD). The frequency dependent conductivity of these nanocomposites have been studied. Large variations in conductivity were observed may be due to lattice polarization around a charge in localized state and due to variation of distribution of Iron oxide in polymer matrix. Compare to all the composites 50 wt% shows highest Sensitivity. The results obtained for these composites are of scientific and technological interest.