Ammonia vapor sensing and electrical properties of fibrous multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline nanocomposites prepared in presence of cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide

Electrically conductive HCl-doped multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/polyaniline (Pani) nanocomposites were prepared in the presence of cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide by in situ oxidative polymerization of aniline containing different amount of MWCNTs. Thus prepared Pani@MWCNT nanocomposites were characterized by FTIR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, SEM and TEM. The stability in terms of their electrical conductivity retention was studied under isothermal and cyclic aging conditions. Pani@MWCNT nanocomposites showed increased thermal stability in terms of DC electrical conductivity retention with increasing MWCNT content. One of the Pani@MWCNT nanocomposites was also tested for ammonia sensing which showed good sensing response and high reproducibility.