SUMMARY
Novel organic-inorganic semiconducting hybrid material is developed by chemically grafting polyaniline (PANI) onto an inorganic template, Laponite. The surface active silanol groups of the Laponite sheets were silylated with an aniline functionalised 3-phenylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane (PAPTMOS) coupling agent followed by deposition of PANI onto the silylated surface. The method includes the reaction of Laponite with PAPTMOS dissolved in a very small amount of methanol at 110 °C for 44 h in a vacuum oven, interaction of the silylated product with PANI via in situ polymerisation of aniline and one-step isolation process by means of the removal of the non-connected PANI with N-methylpyrrolidinone-diethylamine binary solvent. After isolation and re-doping with methane sulfonic acid the Laponite-PAPTMOS-PANI hybrid becomes electrically conductive. The chemical attachment of PANI with silylated Laponite in the hybrids were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and scanning electron microscopy.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 3, May 2014, pp. 193-197, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.7185