Fabrication of inorganic/organic hybrid heterojunctions of polyaniline composite/blend for the study of diode characteristics

Inorganic/organic hybrid heterojunctions of polyaniline composite/blend with metal doped zinc oxide nanorods (nrs) have been fabricated and systematically investigated for diode characteristics. vertically aligned aluminium (al) and iron (fe) doped zno nanorods were grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (fto) coated glass slides using cost effective,eco-friendly and simple solution chemistry methods. heterojunctions of doped zno nrs with polyaniline (pani),poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(4- styrenesulfonate) (pedot:pss) and pani:mwcnt nanocomposite and pani:pedot:pss blend showed rectifying behaviour with large rectification ratios. sem results show clear interface between zno nanorods and pedot:pss,pani:mwcnt nanocomposite and pani:pedot:pss blend indicating junction formation. ideality factors and barrier heights were calculated using thermionic emission model. heterojunctions of undoped and doped zno nrs with pani:mwcnt composite showed moderate ideality factors,reduced barrier heights and greater forward current as compared to heterojunctions of undoped and doped zno nrs with pani:pedot:pss blend. the study is innovative and important with respect to selection of materials for fabricating hybrid p-n heterojunction diodes. © penerbit universiti sains malaysia,2017.