Synthesis of Polythiophene/Manganese Dioxide Nanocomposites by In-situ Core-shell Polymerization Method and Study of their Physical Properties

The present research work describes an efficient method for facile synthesis of α-MnO2 nanorods by hydrothermal method and preparation of a series of polythiophene/manganese dioxide (PTh/MnO2) nanocomposites with various α-MnO2 ratios. These nanocomposites were fabricated by in-situ oxidative polymerization method using FeCl3 as oxidant, and characterized by Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), thermogravimetric thermal analyses (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. FT-IR, EDX and XRD data showed that as-synthesized α-MnO2 nanorods has been definitely incorporated into the polymer matrix via in-situ core-shell polymerization. SEM and TEM pictures showed that the nanocomposites have rod-like morphology with the average diameter of 50-70 nm. TGA measurements showed that introducing α-MnO2 nanorods into PTh matrix, improve the thermal stability of nanocomposites in comparison with pure PTh. This employed method is very simple and inexpensive in comparison with methods applied by other researchers, and it can be easily applied industrially.