Investigation on PANI/CuO nanocomposites for ammonia gas sensing applications

[Display omitted] •Simple chemical polymerization method is used to prepare PANI/CuO nanocomposites.•PANI/CuO NCs as luminescent materials due to its visible optical emissions.•PANI/CuO NCs as responsive ammonia sensor due to lower response/recovery time.•PANI/CuO NCs based gas sensor can provide a better solution for NH3 detection. A simple chemical polymerization method is used to prepare composites of polyaniline with various compositions of cupric-oxide (PANI/CuO) at room temperature. The structural and morphological analysis is performed by XRD and SEM micrographs. The optical characterizations are performed using FT-IR, UV–visible absorption, and PLspectroscopy. The sensing characteristics have been investigated by varying the ammonia concentration over a range of 100–2000 ppm. The response/recovery time of nanocomposites systems are found reduced as compared to PANI designates faster response of sensor confirms their suitability for gas sensors.