Study of swift heavy ion modified conducting polymer composites for application as gas sensor

A polyaniline-based conducting composite was prepared by oxidative polymerisation of aniline in a polyvinylchloride ( PVC) matrix. The coherent free standing thin films of the composite were prepared by a solution casting method. The polyvinyl chloride-polyaniline composites exposed to 120 MeV ions of silicon with total ion fluence ranging from 10(11) to 10(13) ions/cm(2), were observed to be more sensitive towards ammonia gas than the unirradiated composite. The response time of the irradiated composites was observed to be comparably shorter. We report for the first time the application of swift heavy ion modified insulating polymer conducting polymer ( IPCP) composites for sensing of ammonia gas.