Improved thermal stability and electrochemical behavior of cnts/polyaniline nanocomposite

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes/polymer composite are recently opening new dimension for researchers. We report, the fabrication of nanocomposite of polyaniline (RANI) with functionalized CNTs (f-CNTs) by in-situ chemical polymerization using a novel approach of polymerization of monomers directly over the surface of the CNTs by taking oxidizing agent adsorbed CNTs. In this process of composite formation, CNTs were functionalized with carboxyl group using potassium permanganate (KMnO 4) and sulphuric acid (H 2SO 4) as an oxidizing agent. The deposition of oxidizing agent on the surface of CNTs induces the growth of a uniform layer of PANI on CNTs, which leads the formation of homogeneous nanocomposite of CNTs/PANI. We have studied thermal stability (TGA) and electrochemical behavior of CNTs/PANI nanocomposite. In the nanocomposite, the PANI degradation temperature shifted to higher temperature upto 600 °C. Cyclic Voltammetry of CNTs/PANI composite suggests the catalytic effect of CNTs for fast electron transfer. In this novel synthesis procedure, nanotubes act as a template for the formation of nanocomposite. The formation of f-CNTs coated with oxidizing agent and CNTs/PANI composite were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM studies. A feasible model for the formation of composite has also been discussed. The processible nanocomposite showed its potential for wide applications. Copyright © 2009 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.