Optical and Magnetic Studies on Cu2O/PANI Nanocomposite Prepared by Chemical Polymerization Method

Abstract

Polyaniline embedded green copper oxide (Cu2O/PANI) nanocomposite has been synthesized through in situ chemical polymerization method in acidic medium at room temperature. The structural, optical, and magnetic properties of Cu2O/PANI nanocomposite were investigated through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis absorption spectra (UV-Vis spectra), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence spectra (PL), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). FTIR spectra confirmed the formation of Cu2O/PANI composite through the shifting of vibrational peaks of PANI and green Cu2O nanoparticles at 825, 1142, 1299, 1499, 1573 cm−1 and 695 cm−1 respectively. SEM analysis revealed that many aggregations of well-separated irregular shape of Cu2O nanoparticles with diameter about 15–40 nm exist in the composite matrix. Optical absorbance studies further confirmed the formation of composite through the blue shift of absorption peaks of PANI and diminishing intensity peak of Cu2O. Cu2O/PANI nanocomposite demonstrates semiconducting as well as diamagnetic behavior like PANI and Cu2O nanoparticles. The nanocomposite exhibits high relative photoluminescence intensity in blue as well as green-yellow region of visible spectrum. The optical band gap value from absorption coefficient data is found to be 3.23 eV.