Preparation and characterization of conductive Polyaniline/Sago/Graphene nanocomposites via ultrasonic irradiation

This work, which is a part of our ongoing studies on developing Polyaniline/Sago/graphene (P/S/G) nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were synthesized via ultrasonic irradiation (U.I) method in presence of hydrochloric acid and Ammonium persulfate. The quantity of PANI and Sago was kept constant and the effects of graphene nanoplatelet (GnP) dosage on their electrical conductivity and morphology was evaluated. Electrical conductivity measurements using a standard four-point probe technique and morphological analysis was carried using Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrical conductivity of nanocomposites was found to be drastically increased as compared to that of PANI/Sago blend at room temperature. Further the conductivity of nanocomposites was also found to be increased with the increase in weight % of GnP. The results also showed that incorporation of less than 1 wt.% of GnP into polymeric matrix had improved electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites from 2.98×10⁻⁴ to 1.34×10⁻¹ S cm⁻¹. The morphology of the generated P/S/G nanocomposites shows uniform dispersion of GnP.