Design and synthesis of new conjugated copolymer for methanol sensing application

A conjugated copolymer comprised of aniline and pyrrole was synthesized by oxidative polymerization technique and the copolymer/ZnO nanocomposite thin films were prepared. The composite showed good sensing towards methanol vapours at room temperature. Composite showed faster response and good recovery on exposure to methanol vapours. The composite showed enhanced sensing response for methanol, higher than the pure polymer at room temperature. The nanocomposite exhibited excellent reproducibility, reversibility and with the highest selectivity of 0.1168 towards 100 ppm of methanol vapour. The research finding indicated that this polymer nanocomposite may be a potential candidate as methanol sensor.Copyright (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials Science and Mathematics for Advanced Technology.

Automated summary

A conjugated copolymer of aniline and pyrrole was synthesized, and copolymer/ZnO nanocomposite thin films were prepared using oxidative polymerization technique. The research findings showed that the nanocomposite exhibited good sensitivity and selectivity towards methanol vapours at room temperature.