Characteristics of zinc sulphide nanostructures grown onsilica modified-polyaniline with polymerization time-dependent

Growth of zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanostructures on silica modified-polyaniline (SM- PAni) with polymerization time-dependent was prepared using chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. The grown samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). SEM images revealed that polyaniline rod-like nanostructures and ZnS nanospheres were successfully grown. The average diameter of the grown ZnS nanospheres did not significantly change by changing the growth time of the polyaniline. However, ZnS nanospheres grown with longer polymerization time of PAni is less dense and loosely bound as compared to shorter polymerization time of PAni. The less density of ZnS nanostructures with longer polymerization time of PAni may be due to the presence of PAni agglomerates that hinders the growth of ZnS nanospheres. Furthermore, FTIR spectra confirmed that the grown polyaniline is of emeraldine salt oxidation state which is the most conductive state of PAni.