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Abstract:
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Recent developments on nanostructured conducting polymer-inorganic
composites systems have receieved considerable research interest owing to their
unique synergestic properties compared with their individual bulk counter parts
which make them promising candidates for a broad spectrum of high technological
applications such as in energy conversion, electronic devices, storage, sensors,
actuators, memory devices, and biomedical devices. Nanostructured conducting
polymers possess unique features such as high specific surface area, high charge
carrier concentration, high electrical conductivity, high mechanical flexibility, light
weight, solution processability and printability over a large area which make them
favourable for their high tech applications. Among the conducting polymers,
polyanilline, poly(3,4-ethylene dioxy thiophene), poly(N-vinylcarbzole) are
receiving much importance due to their low cost, environmental stability and
unique doping mechanism. Conversely, semiconducting inorganic metal oxide such
as zinc oxide and titania nanomaterials have emerged as an area of intense research
interest motivated by their potential applications in electronics, non-linear optics,
and magnetic devices due to their low band gap, small crystalline size and unique
opto-electronic properties. In this perspective, studies on the development and
applications of semiconducting polymer-inorganic metal oxide nanocomposite are
interesting since it is expected to exhibit synergistic properties arising from the
molecular level mixing of conducting polymer and inorganic counter parts. |