Simple one-step ultrasonic synthesis of anatase titania/polypyrrole nanocomposites

► Synthesis of hybrid nanocomposites by using a simple one-step under ultrasonication. ► Direct obtention of crystalline titania in the nanocomposites by using low energy. ► Nanocomposites with harvesting energy in the visible range for flexible solar cells. In this work, hybrid nanocomposites based on anatase titania:polypyrrole (TiO2:PPy) were directly obtained from a simple, one-step, ultrasonic (UT)-assisted synthesis. The properties of these crystalline nanocomposites were compared with those of others fabricated using cold (Cold)-assisted synthesis without any UT assistance, which required a hydrothermal treatment (HT) to yield crystalline anatase titania in the nanocomposite (TiO2:PPy) at low temperature (130°C) and in a short time (3h). The SEM results demonstrated that the UT-assisted synthesis is a feasible method to obtain anatase TiO2:PPy nanocomposites with controlled morphology using low energy. The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) bands of the crystalline nanocomposites exhibited a shift with respect to neat components, which was attributed to the strong interaction between the secondary amine groups (N–H) of PPy and the oxygen from TiO2. The acceptable absorption in the visible region (λmax=670nm) indicates that these nanocomposites are good candidates for harvesting energy in solar cells. Devices based on these nanocomposites were built to evaluate their electrical properties. An increase in the photocurrent was observed for the devices prepared with the nanocomposites from the UT-assisted synthesis.