Effect of electrical properties on gas sensitivity of polypyrrole/cds nanocomposites

In the present work, polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites were synthesized using ferric chloride (FeCl3) as an oxidant by in situ polymerization at room temperature. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were synthesized by ultrasonication technique with size ranging between 60 and 110 nm. The PPy/CdS nanocomposites were prepared by taking 1-3 wt % loading of CdS to measure the electrical conductivity. The PPy nanocomposites were characterized by using FTIR, X-ray diffraction, UV, and SEM. Furthermore, these PPy/CdS nanocomposites were investigated to study their effect of electrical properties on gas sensitivity of ammonia and LPG. The nanocomposites showed improvement in conductivity and sensing response toward 250 ppm NH3 was found to be maximum (4.2) compared with 100 and 500 ppm NH3 gas, whereas in the case of LPG, it showed sensitive response. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42379.