Investigating the Physicochemical and Optical Properties of PANI and PANI-ZnO Thin Films for an Efficient Ammonia Sensor at Ambient Conditions

Abstract Recently, owing to the versatile properties of conducting polymer-nanomaterial composite thin films have been extensively employed in diverse applications. Within this framework, the present investigation reported the NH3 gas sensing ability of zinc oxide nanoparticles doped polyaniline (PANI-ZnO) composite thin films along with physicochemical and optoelectronic properties. The PANI-ZnO nanocomposite thin films were harvested using a soft chemical polymerisation technique over a glass substrate. The physicochemical and optoelectronic properties of the developed thin films were explored using the XRD, FESEM, UV-Vis. and FTIR characterisation techniques. The NH3 gas sensing properties of PANI and PANI-ZnO nanocomposite thin film at ambient temperature were studied using the chemiresistive sensing technique. The developed PANI-ZnO sensor exhibited an excellent response toward the target NH3 gas with outstanding sensitivity, selectivity, linearity, and stability. Comparatively, the PANI-ZnO thin films show enhanced sensitivity, stability, response and recovery time than the PANI film. Thus, the present study declared that the developed PANI-ZnO thin films are promising candidates for low-concentration detection of NH3 gas with appropriate response and recovery time.