Optical and structural properties of electrodeposited polyaniline/Q-CdS composites

HCl doped polyaniline (PANI)/Q‐CdS composite thin films have been synthesized using the electrodeposition route on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. Three different sizes of CdS quantum dots were uniformly dispersed in PANI matrix. As deposited samples were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Optical properties of the composite structures were investigated by using optical absorption, photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy. PANI/Q‐CdS composite showed significant improvement in the thermal behavior as indicated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) thermograph. Our results also indicated that the doping state of the nanocomposites was dependent on the size of the CdS nanoparticles and improved with decreasing size. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:1864–1874, 2014. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers