Synthesis, characterisation and study of thermal, electrical and photocatalytic activity of nanocomposite of PANI with [Co(NH₃)₄ (C₁₂H₈N₂)] Cl₃·5H₂O photoadduct

Highlights: • Synthesis of new polyaniline nanocomposite with [Co(NH₃)₄ (C₁₂H₈N₂)] Cl₃·5H₂O photoadduct. • Characterisation of the photoadduct and nanocomposite by FTIR, XRD and UV–Vis analysis. • Thermal study shows improved thermal stability of PANI nanocomposite over PANI. • Electrical study reveals modified non-linear I–V characteristic of nanocomposite. • The nanocomposite possesses photocatalytic activity. - Abstract: A new polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposite with [Co(NH₃)₄ (C₁₂H₈N₂)] Cl₃·5H₂O photoadduct as filler was synthesised via in-situ oxidative polymerisation by ammonium persulphate in non-aqueous DMSO medium. The photoadduct has been synthesised through photo substitution by 1,10-phenenthroline (phen) ligand on irradiation. The as synthesised photoadduct was reduced in size prior to its incorporation in the PANI matrix. The synthesised photoadduct and PANI nanocomposite were characterised by FTIR, XRD, UV–Vis, SEM and elemental analysis. The results showed successful synthesis of photoadduct and PANI nanocomposite. The thermal and electrical measurement of PANI nanocomposite was carried out by thermal gravimetric technique (TGA) and four probe conductivity metre respectively. The results showed improvement in the thermal stability and conductance of nanocomposite over PANI. Besides, the nanocomposite was investigated for photocatalytic activity in the photochemical degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye.