S.M. Imran

Enhancement of electroconductivity of polyaniline/graphene oxide nanocomposites through in situ emulsion polymerization

The present study introduces a systematic approach to disperse graphene oxide (GO) during emulsion polymerization (EP) of Polyaniline (PANI) to form nanocomposites with improved electrical conductivities. PANI/GO samples were fabricated by loading different weight percents (wt%) of GO through modified in situ EP of the aniline monomer. The polymerization process was carried out in the presence of a functionalized protonic acid such as dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid, which acts both as an emulsifier and protonating agent. The microstructure of the PANI/GO nanocomposites was studied by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV–Vis spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared, differential thermal, and thermogravimetric analyses. The formed nanocomposites exhibited superior morphology and thermal stability. Meanwhile, the electrical conductivities of the nanocomposite pellets pressed at different applied pressures were determined using the four-probe analyzer. It was observed that the addition of GO was an essential component to improving the thermal stability and electrical conductivities of the PANI/GO nanocomposites. The electrical conductivities of the nanocomposites were considerably enhanced as compared to those of the individual PANI samples pressed at the same pressures. An enhanced conductivity of 474 S/m was observed at 5 wt% GO loading and an applied pressure of 6 t. Therefore, PANI/GO composites with desirable properties for various semiconductor applications can be obtained by in situ addition of GO during the polymerization process.

Aminated polyethersulfone-silver nanoparticles (AgNPs-APES) composite membranes with controlled silver ion release for antibacterial and water treatment applications.

The present study reports the antibacterial disinfection properties of a series of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) immobilized membranes. Initially, polyethersulfone (PES) was functionalized through the introduction of amino groups to form aminated polyethersulfone (NH2-PES, APES). AgNPs were then coordinately immobilized on the surface of the APES composite membrane to form AgNPs-APES. The properties of the obtained membrane were examined by FT-IR, XPS, XRD, TGA, ICP-OES and SEM-EDAX analyses. These structural characterizations revealed that AgNPs ranging from 5 to 40 nm were immobilized on the surface of the polymer membrane. Antibacterial tests of the samples showed that the AgNPs-APES exhibited higher activity than the AgNPs-PES un-functionalized membrane. Generally, the AgNPs-APES 1 cm × 3 cm strip revealed a four times longer life than the un-functionalized AgNPs polymer membranes. The evaluation of the Ag(+) leaching properties of the obtained samples indicated that approximately 30% of the AgNPs could be retained, even after 12 days of operation. Further analysis indicated that silver ion release can be sustained for approximately 25 days. The present study provides a systematic and novel approach to synthesize water treatment membranes with controlled and improved silver (Ag(+)) release to enhance the lifetime of the membranes.

Inexpensive sol-gel synthesis of multiwalled carbon nanotube-TiO2 hybrids for high performance antibacterial materials.

This study reports an inexpensive sol-gel method to synthesize TiO2-CNT hybrid materials. Synthesized TiO2-CNT materials show strong antibacterial activity in the absence of light. Cheap TiO2 source TiOCl2 is used during synthesis in the absence of high temperatures, high pressures and organic solvents. TiO2-CNT materials with 0, 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20wt% of CNT were synthesized and compared for antibacterial activity, surface area, porosity, crystalline structure, chemical state, and HaCaT cell proliferation. The antibacterial strength of hybrid materials increased significantly with the increase in CNT loading amount, and the TiO2-CNT samples with a CNT loading of 10wt% or more nearly removed all of the E.coli bacteria. HaCaT cell proliferation studies of synthesized hybrid materials illustrated that prepared TiO2-CNT systems exhibit minimum cytotoxicity. The characteristics of prepared materials were analyzed by means of XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, TEM, and nitrogen gas physisorption studies, compared and discussed.

Inexpensive synthesis of a high-performance Fe3O4-SiO2-TiO2 photocatalyst: Magnetic recovery and reuse

A sol-gel technique has been developed for the synthesis of a magnetite-silica-titania (Fe3O4-SiO2-TiO2) tertiary nanocomposite with improved photocatalytic properties based on the use of inexpensive titania and silica precursors. The exceptional photocatalytic activity of the resulting materials was demonstrated by using them to photocatalyze the degradation of methylene blue solution. The best formulation achieved 98% methylene blue degradation. An interesting feature of the present work was the ability to magnetically separate and reuse the catalyst. The efficiency of the catalyst remained high during two reuses. The synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. XRD analysis revealed the formation of multicrystalline systems of cubic magnetite and anatase titania crystals. SEM and TEM characterization revealed well-developed and homo-geneously dispersed particles of size less than 15 nm. FTIR spectra confirmed the chemical interaction of titania and silica. It was further noticed that the optical properties of the prepared materials were dependent on the relative contents of their constituent metal oxides.

Structural characterization of the silver-polyaniline nanocomposite for electronic devices

Incorporation of metal nanoparticles in Polyaniline composites could effectively improve its optical, thermal and electrical properties and making it an ideal for the use in semiconductor industry. In this study Ag nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed ultrasonically in the solution of polyaniline emeraldine base (PANIEB) and isopropyl alcohol. PANIEB used in this experiment were doped with polymer of methacrylic acid ester and vinyl verstate. The results about the morphological, optical and electrical properties of Ag-PANIEB with IPA colloid as a function of different concentration of Ag nanoparticles (Such as 25%, 50%, 100% by weight) were presented and discussed.

Polaron hopping mechanism of conducting polymer

To investigate the polaron hopping mechanism, thin films of polyaniline with solvent and without solvents were deposited over the surface of Al thin film and electrical properties were evaluated as a function of temperature ranging from - 60°C to 60°C. It was observed that all devices followed Arrhenius response of conductivity within given temperature range. The pre-exponential factor of conductivity and activation-energy for each device were found interrelated with isokinetic temperature (Meyer-Neldel Temperature) according to the Meyer-Neldel rule (MNR). It was examined that the solvent provides higher value of isokinetic temperature and lower value of activation energy, which may be due to the enhancement of solvent-induced crystallization, improvement of electronic energy transfer rate between molecular chains and softening of molecular vibration in polymer chains. The results demonstrate that IPA offers superior solvent response as compared to acetone for PANIEB matrix. The understandings obtained from this study will improve our knowledge for both the origin of MNR and the thermal-activated charge transport mechanism for conducting polymer in the presence of solvent.