Zener-like electrical transport in polyaniline–graphene oxide nanocomposites

The present study includes the fabrication and characterization and an investigation of the electrical transport properties of nanocomposites of n-PANI and graphene oxide (GO). The samples were prepared by loading different weight percentages D of GO during the chemical oxidative in situ polymerization of aniline monomers. Structural characterization by XRD, FTIR, FESEM, etc. confirmed that the nanocomposites exhibited superior morphology and thermal stability. The transport properties were studied by measuring the variation of conductivity with temperature T, V–I characteristics and the fundamental response V(f) at different temperatures T. The dc conductance Σ showed a transition from insulator type behavior to weakly temperature dependent behavior at temperature T(D), which decreased with increasing D. The V–I characteristics were generally nonlinear and the nonlinearity increased with decreasing temperature. Moreover, at temperatures T ≥ T(D), the characteristics showed saturation of voltage for higher values of current, similar to Zener diodes. At lower temperatures (T ≤ T(D)), a voltage maximum occurred, similar to thyristors. This behavior leads to the possibility of fabricating devices containing these nanocomposites. We have tried to analyze these results using the framework of scaling theory and the concept of inter-chain hopping conduction and tunneling between conducting grains separated by insulating regimes in the nanocomposite.