Polypyrrole/Cr2O3 hybrid nanocomposites (NCs) prepared for their structural, morphological, optical and conductivity studies

Abstract

This work deals with the nanocomposites of Polypyrrole/Cr2O3 which were synthesized via in-situ polymerization. Here the dopant, Cr2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by solution combustion technique using Aloe-Vera gel as organic fuel, whereas Ammonium persulphate (APS) will be used as oxidant in the synthesis of PPy. Different weight percentages of Cr2O3 (10-50 wt %) NPs were substituted in the Polypyrrole. The synthesized nanocomposites (NCs) were characterized by means of various characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The particle size of the NPs was calculated using Scherer method, and is found to be around 20 nm. TEM results are in consistent with the PXRD results. The morphology of the obtained NCs shows the porous and agglomerated particle which is due to large amount of gas evolution during NPs synthesis by solution combustion technique. DC conductivity of these nanocomposites increases exponentially with the temperature. Electrical properties remain almost consistent up to 80 degrees C and thereafter it increases exponentially. Diffuse Reflectance Spectra (DRS) analysis was performed to estimate the band gap energies of PPy/Cr2O3 NCs. In Photoluminescence (PL) study, obtained Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) value (6508 K) for the near white light emitting phosphor agrees with the CCT value of standard daylight at noon (D65, 6500 K) suitable for commercial purposes and calculated values of CCT for each sample are in acceptable range were studied.