Novel nanocomposites based on poly(4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone) and carbon black-ZnO (CB@ZnO) binary composites: synthesis, characterization, and mechanical, optical and electrochemical properties

New nanocomposites based on poly(4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone) (PDDS) and carbon black-ZnO (CB@ZnO) binary composite were formulated by incorporating CB@ZnO into pure PDDS. Samples have been prepared by chemical polymerization. Furthermore, FTIR, XRD, SEM, UV–visible and TGA confirmed the successful synthesis of PDDS/CB@ZnO nanocomposites. The tensile strength test indicate that the incorporation of CB@ZnO into PDDS chain was found to improve Young’s modulus from 1.58 Gpa for pure PDDS to 2.91 Gpa and 4.34 Gpa for PDDS/CB@ZnO 5% and PDDS/ CB@ZnO 10%, respectively. Interestingly, optical property data indicated that PDDS and PDDS/CB@ZnO nanocomposites have mainly direct energy band gaps permitting transitions in the energy range of 3.88–3.83 eV. Besides, the CV results show that these hybrid materials exhibited high electroactivity. All the results demonstrated that the PDDS/CB@ZnO nanocomposites are very promising for electrochemical applications.