Core shell carbon nanotubes/silver nanohybrids coated with polypyrrole designed via interfacial chemistry of aryl diazonium salts and ultrasonic pathway
MEKKI Ahmed (1)*, Achour Sabrina (1), Ihdene Zaher (1), Mahmoud Rachid (1), CHEHIMI Mohamed Mehdi (2)
(1) Ecole Militaire Polytechnique - Alger - Algeria, (2) Institut de Chimie et des Matériaux Paris Est – Equipe Systèmes Polymères Complexes, - Paris. - France
A simple and versatile synthesizing process of novel composites consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), silver nanoparticles and polypyrrole were carried out through one step method. Firstly, the surface of MWCNTs was modified via an in-situ diazonium generation process, this functionalization helped to easily disperse the MWCNTs in aqueous solutions, then after, without using any supplementary oxidant or reduction agent, an in-situ pyrrole polymerization were conducted onto the top of surface modified MWCNTs through the reduction of Ag nanoparticles by application of ultrasound waves at room temperature. Polypyrrole layer formation and Ag nanoparticles incorporation on the surface of MWCNTs were confirmed by FTIR, Raman and XRD. The SEM and TEM images revealed highly dispersed surface modified MWCNT/Ag/PPy nanocomposites kind with nanotubular morphologies having an average diameter of 15-30 nm. The electrical conductivity of the formed nanocomposite was found to be higher than of pyrrole/silver and nanocomposite based crude MWCNTs. The prepared nanocomposite will certainly find several applications in different area such as gas sensing, catalysis and electronic devices