Characterization of silver polyaniline nanocomposite thin films prepared by microwave induced plasma

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) and Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films have prepared by microwave induced plasma. The Ag powder of average particle size of 50 nm, were used to prepare Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films. The Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films prepared by polymerization in plasma and characterized by UV-VIS, FTIR, AFM and SEM to study the effect of silver nanoparticles on the optical properties, morphology and structure of the thin films. The optical properties studies showed that the energy band gap of the Ag/PANI (5%wt silver) decreased from 3.6 to 3.2 eV, where the substrate location varied from 4.4 to 3.4 cm from the axis of the cylindrical plasma chamber. Also the optical energy gap decreased systematically from 3.3 to 3 eV with increasing Ag nanoparticles, where Ag concentration increased from 5% to 11%wt. The FTIR measurement showed a shifting in the FTIR absorption peaks with Ag concentration. AFM and SEM images indicate that there are a few clusters of Ag and there is a uniform distribution of the Ag nanoparticles in the PANI matrix. It can be concluded that Ag/PANI nanocomposite thin films with controlled optical energy band gap can be prepared by microwave induced plasma technique.