HYDROTHERMALLY GROWN ZnO/rGO AND ZnO/PANI NANOHYBRIDS: COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THEIR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE

Abstract

The unique properties of Zinc Oxide, Graphene and their nanocomposite have enabled them to fabricate many
optoelectronic devices which offer advantages like light weight, good stability and optical transparency. Conducting
polymer/graphene hybrids are also a major class of composite materials for the fabrication of donor/acceptor based
electronic devices. In this paper we report the synthesis, characterization and conductivity measurements in ZnO/rGO
and ZnO/PANI binary nanohybrids. ZnO nanotops are synthesized by low temperature hydrothermal method, graphene
oxide (GO) by modified Hummer’s Method, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by hydrothermal in situ reduction technique
and PANI from aniline by chemical polyoxidation reaction. ZnO/rGO nanohybrid is prepared by hydrothermal
treatment of ZnO and GO, whereas ZnO/PANI by in-situ oxidative polymerization of aniline in presence of ZnO. All
the materials were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, UV-Vis, IR&TGA. The as-synthesized samples were dispersed
in IPA, coated on quartz glass using spin-coating technique, and dark conductivity measurements were done.