Synthesis and characterization of CuO nanoparticles, DBSA doped PANI and PANI/DBSA/CuO hybrid composites for diode and solar cell device development

Abstract Pure CuO, PANI and PANI/CuO hybrid composites are prepared by chemical synthesis method. The samples were characterized by structural, optical, morphological and electrical studies. FT-IR spectra of PANI/CuO hybrid composites are found to be shifted toward higher wave number compared with pure PANI. XRD spectrum confirms the formation of CuO nanoparticles and PANI/CuO hybrid composites. Morphological change has been observed in PANI–CuO hybrid composites formed at different weight % of APS. PANI samples show spherical and smooth morphology, whereas PANI–CuO hybrid composites with aggregated morphology as per the SEM results. TEM morphology shows the formation of evenly distributed DBSA and CuO doped composite nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. The PANI/CuO composites exhibit relatively high photoluminescence intensity in violet and green–yellow region of visible spectrum along with high electrical conductivity compared with pure PANI. The composites show semiconducting nature and the conductivity decreases with increasing of APS content due to the formation of new conduction pathways. The effect of APS content on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the composites are presented. Moreover, the device based on the ITO/PANI/CuO/APS x composites was fabricated and its I – V behavior was studied.