Conducting nanocomposites of polyaniline/nylon 6,6/zinc oxide nanoparticles: preparation, characterization and electrical conductivity studies

Nanocomposites of polyaniline as a conducting polymer and main matrix, zinc oxide nanoparticles as inorganic filler and nylon 6,6 as supporting matrix were prepared by solution mixing process in a common solvent. DC electrical conductivity and its thermal stability at different temperatures under ambient atmospheric conditions were studied for the nanocomposites. The stability studies were carried out by two slightly different techniques, i.e., cyclic ageing and isothermal ageing. The results showed that the DC electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites decreased with increase in the content of zinc oxide nanoparticles whereas the thermal stability in terms of DC electrical conductivity retention was slightly improved in few cases but not for all samples. The advance analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were also used to characterize the selected samples. It was also observed that zinc oxide nanoparticles in the nanocomposites were homogeneously distributed; however, some clusters/aggregates were also present. The FTIR results showed the existence of some interaction between the individual components of the nanocomposites as evident from the little shift in the peaks of FTIR spectra. This result was also supported by XRD data.