Synthesis and characterisation of a ternary composite of polyaniline, reduced graphene-oxide and chitosan with reduced optical band gap and stable aqueous dispersibility

A ternary composite comprising of p-toluene sulfonic acid doped polyaniline (PANI), chitosan and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with stable aqueous dispersibility has been synthesised via oxidative polymerisation of aniline in chitosan/RGO dispersion. For comparison; PANI, PANI/chitosan and PANI/RGO composites were also synthesised using the same procedure. FTIR, Raman, XPS, XRD and UV-VIS confirmed the successful synthesis of the PANI and the composites. The aqueous dispersions of the PANI/chitosan and the ternary composites were found to be stable even after more than four months. The stability of the dispersion was attributed to the polycationic nature of the chitosan. The thermogravimetri…