Synthesis and characterization of PTP/[Fe(CN)3(dien)]·H2O nanocomposite; study of electrical, thermal and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Polythiophene/[Fe(CN)3(dien)]·H2O nanocomposite was synthesised by oxidative chemical polymerisation method. Photoadduct was synthesised by irradiating an equimolar mixture of potassium ferricyanide and diethylenetriamine which was then reduced to nanosize by high energy ball mill. The reduction of photoadduct to nanosize was confirmed from XRD. Nanocomposite of PTP with photoadduct was then prepared by oxidative chemical polymerisation using FeCl3 as oxidant. The successful synthesis of nanocomposite was confirmed from FTIR, XRD and SEM. TGA revealed higher thermal stability of nanocomposite as compared to pure PTP. I–V characteristics plotted on a log–log scale showed two distinct power law regions in case of nanocomposite. At lower voltages, the transport mechanism follows Ohm’s law. At higher voltages, the mechanism is consistent with space charge-limited emission. Furthermore, nanocomposite shows enhanced conductivity as compared to pure PTP. From dielectric studies, an appreciable high value of dielectric constant (4.4×106 at 100Hz) and ac conductivity (2.1×109S/m at 300kHz) of nanocomposite was obtained. This indicates the possible application of this nanocomposite in charge storage devices. The photocatalytic activity of the materials was studied against the methyl orange (MO) dye under UV–Vis light and 76% degradation of MO dye was achieved in presence of nanocomposite in just 2h, hence indicating its better photocatalytic efficiency. Results thus obtained indicate the synthesised nanocomposite can be used as a multifunctional material for different nanoelectronic devices.