Chemical polymerization, characterization and electrochemical studies of PANI/ZnO doped with hydrochloric acid and/or zinc chloride: Differences between the synthesized nanocomposites

An in-situ polymerization method has been employed to prepare HCl-doped polyaniline (PANI)/ZnO nanocomposites and (HCl-ZnCl2) doped PANI/ZnO. Structural characteristics were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Transmission Electron Micrographs (TEM). TGA results showed that the decomposition of the HCI doped PANI/ZnO nanocomposites was less than that of (HCl-ZnCl2) doped PANI/ZnO nanocompositess. Conduction studies were done by using four-probe method. Electrical conductivity study shows an increase in the conductivity of the samples with the (HCl-ZnCl2) doped) PANI/ZnO to 0.081 S cm(-1). To further explore the advantages of these nanocomposites for real applications, we investigated the electrochemical properties of these samples electrodes, the (HCl-ZnCl2-doped) PANI/ZnO nanocomposite presented much higher electrochemical response to (HCI-doped) PANI/ZnO and (ZnCl2-doped) PANI/ZnO nanocomposites.