The effect of the degree of graphene oxidation on the electric conductivity of nanocomposites based on a polyaniline complex

Abstract

Experiments show that the electric conductivity of a polyaniline (PANI) complex with polyacid increases upon the introduction of graphene. It is found for the first time that this effect strongly depends on the degree of graphene oxidation: the presence of unoxidized and half-oxidized graphene increases the electric conductivity of the PANI complex by a factor of 3 and 20, respectively. An explanation of this phenomenon is proposed that takes into account the electron interactions between graphene planes and PANI backbone and the formation of hydrogen bonds between the functional groups of half-oxidized graphene and polyacid.