DC electrical conductivity retention and antibacterial aspects of microwave-assisted ultrathin CuO@polyaniline composite

Herein, this work ultrathin CuO nanosheets were synthesized by simple microwave-assisted route. The CuO nanosheets were further fabricated with polyaniline (Pani) by oxidative polymerization methodology in the presence of citric acid and potassium persulphate to finally get Pani@CuO nanocomposite. Thus, prepared CuO nanosheets, Pani and Pani@CuO nanocomposite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy for the morphological and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the structural analysis. The morphological study by SEM showed ultrathin sheets of thickness < 10 nm and the dimensions of several nanometers ranging from ~ 200 to 600 nm. The Pani@CuO nanocomposite showed Pani covering the CuO sheets as well as bulk Pani deposited at different places on CuO. The addition of CuO resulted in non-observance of the tubular structure of Pani, thereby suggesting a strong interaction between Pani and CuO. The XRD analysis also showed the presence of peaks corresponding to Pani and CuO, which also indicates the successful formation of the Pani@CuO nanocomposite. The DC electrical conductivity retention studies by isothermal and cyclic aging studies showed much higher conductivity and stability under aging conditions for Pani@CuO which might be due to the stabilization as well as an increase in the mobility of charge carriers due to CuO. Additionally, we found that composite material Pani@CuO nanosheet has significant antimicrobial property against the medically important pathogen, i.e., Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Contact killing of the pathogens in the presence of composite material was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and growth parameter. Overall, the synthesized composite material of Pani@CuO might be used for medical device and instrument preparation.