Synthesis, characterization and study of optical property of (PANI)1-x(MWCNT)x nanocomposites

Abstract The present paper deals with study of (PANI)1-x(MWCNT)x nanocomposites to find its materialistic possibilities in the application field of actuators, sensors, electronic devices and supercapacitors. The effect of doping concentration of multi walled nanotube (MWCNT) on surface morphology, structural and chemical properties of polyaniline (PANI), samples has been characterized by SEM and FTIR. SEM images show the appearance of lumps and holes into smooth PANI samples by addition of MWCNT nanoparticles. FTIR spectra also confirm the formation of PANI/ MWCNT nanocomposites. UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometer is used to study the absorption spectra of the composite samples. The band gap energy (Eg) of the nanocomposites is determined using Tauc’s relationship. It has been observed that the increasing the MWCNT concentration in composites reduces the optical band gap which attributes the enhancement in electron delocalization along the polymer chain. Also, the increment in protons with MWCNT concentration extends the density of states more into visible region of EM spectra.