Thermal stability, decomposition and glass transition behavior of PANI/NiO composites

Polyaniline/NiO (PANI/NiO) composites were synthesized by in situ polymerization at the presence of HCl (as dopant). FTIR, TEM and XRD were used to characterize the composites. Thermogravimetry (TG)–mass spectrometer (MS) and temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry (TMDSC) were used to study the thermal stability, decomposition and glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composites, respectively. FTIR and XRD results showed that NiO nanoparticles connected with PANI chains in the PANI/NiO composites. TEM results exhibited that the morphologies of PANI/NiO composites were mostly spherical, which were different from the wirelike PANI. TG–MS curves indicated that the products for oxidative degradation of both PANI and PANI/NiO composite were H2O, CO2, NO and NO2. TG curves showed that with NiO contents increased in PANI/NiO composites, thermal stability of PANI/NiO composites increased firstly and then decreased when the NiO content was higher than 66.2 wt%. Tg of PANI/NiO composites also increased from 163.19 to 252.36 °C with NiO content increasing from 0 to 50 wt%, and then decreased with NiO content increasing continuously.