Structural and electrochemical study of polypyrrole/ZnO nanocomposites coating on nickel sheet synthesized by electrochemical method

Polypyrrole/ZnO (PPy/ZnO) nanocomposites coating with different feeding ratios of ZnO (0-30 wt%) were prepared on nickel sheet using oxalic acid and dodecylebenzensulfonic acid (DBSA) as electrolyte by electrochemical methods. It was found that surface morphology of PPy coatings showed typical cauliflower-like structure and ZnO nanoparticles were randomly distributed among these structures. Several elements were detected including C, 0, S and Zn in PPy/ZnO nanocomposites coating, and the content of ZnO gradually increased with the increase of feeding ratio of ZnO. A peak in XRD patterns was observed around 20 of 18.8 degrees related to PPy structure, and the peaks at 1544 cm(-1) and 579 cm(-1) in FTIR spectra were assigned to stretching vibration of N-H bond and Zn-O bond, respectively. It was also found that the PPy/ZnO nanocomposites coating had better conductivity and charge storage capability than those of pure PPy. Besides, the corrosion current value of PPy/ZnO nanocomposites coating showed a better corrosion protection. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.