Electrical and optical studies in polyaniline nanofibre-SnO2 nanocomposites

Polyaniline nanofibre-tin oxide (PAni-SnO2) nanocomposites are synthesized and mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as stabilizer to cast free-standing films. Composite films are characterized by X-ray diffraction studies (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and UV-visible spectroscopy. XRD confirms the formation of PAni nanofibre-SnO2 nanocomposite. From TEM images, diameter of the polyaniline nanofibre and SnO2 nanoparticles in the PAni-SnO2 nanocomposite are found to be 20-60 nm. SEM results show fibrous morphology of the PAni nanofibre and spherical morphology of polyaniline-SnO2 composites. The nanocomposites exhibit high relative photoluminescence intensity in violet as well as green-yellow region of visible spectrum. From electrical conductivity measurement, it is confirmed that PAni nanofibre-SnO2 nanocomposite follows Mott's one-dimensional variable range hopping (VRH) model.