Thermal and electrical behavior of silver chloride/polyaniline nanocomposite synthesized in aqueous medium using hydrogen peroxide

Nanocomposites of AgCl/PANI were synthesized by chemical polymerization/precipitation in aqueous HCl solution using both aniline monomer and AgNO 3 precursors in different molar ratio in PVP. Silver ions interact with PVP which restrict the bulk growth of AgCl and keep it in nanosized. During synthesis, AgCl NPs got entrapped in PANI chains through inter-chain hydrogen bonding. TGA studies showed complete decomposition of polymer chains occurred at 30–40 °C higher temperature than PANI alone. DSC studies indicate higher thermal stability of the composite, which is due to more heat flow for decomposition of polymer chains indicating compact packing of polymer matrix with AgCl NPs having large surface area to volume ratio. The TEM image showed spherical NPs were randomly dispersed in a polymer matrix and from XRD data crystalline nature of composite was seen. In FT-IR spectrum strong absorption band of a carbonyl stretching group due to PVP indicates its presence on nanoparticle surface in composite. Thin films of nanocomposite were spin casted on ITO coated glass surface. Electrical conductance was calculated from I–V data which was found to be in the range of 10 −2 –10 −7 S cm −1 depending on the concentration of NPs in it. These composites may find applications in solar cells as semiconductor material and for designing multiarray sensors for quality interpretation of beverages on the basis of their conductance changes using soft computing techniques.