Synthesis and characterization of composite polyaniline as hydrogen gas detector

Composite polymer consisting polyaniline (PANI) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were synthesized via oxidative polymerization of aniline. The composite PANI thin films were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and their optical properties towards hydrogen gas were investigated using UV-vis spectroscopy. The FTIR spectra obtained verified the synthesis PANI/ZnO composite. From the experimental results, it was found that with increasing zinc oxide content in the composite cause the transmittance to decrease. The transmittance of the thin films slightly increased after exposed to hydrogen gas. PANI-ZnO (10%w.t.) exhibited best response compared to other composition with the highest transmittance peak difference of 11.4%.