Growth, Morphology, and Electrical Characterization of Polyaniline-ZnO Nano-composite Langmuir-Blodgett Thin Films

Polyaniline (PANi)-zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-composites were prepared by chemical polymerization of aniline doped with ZnO nanoparticles. Surface pressure-area (pi-A) isotherms for the PANi-ZnO nano-composite revealed phase transformations of the monolayer during compression. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of PANi and PANi-ZnO nano-composite were characterized by use of UV-visible (UV-Vis) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). Local current-voltage (I-V) characteristics revealed the current range for PANi-ZnO nano-composite LB films was larger than that for PANi LB films. Conductive data images were recorded to investigate charge-transport current inhomogeneities in the LB films.