A detailed comparative study of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in conjunction with d.c. electrical conductivity has been undertaken to know about the charge transport mechanism in polyaniline (PANI) doped with monovalent and multivalent protonic acids. This work is in continuation of our previous work for further understanding the conduction mechanism in conducting polymers. The results reveal that the polarons and bipolarons are the main charge carriers formed during doping process and these cause increase in electrical conductivity not only by increase in their concentration but also because of their enhanced mobility due to increased inter-chain transport in polyaniline at high doping levels. EPR line asymmetry having Dysonian line shape for highly doped samples shows a marked deviation of amplitudes 𝐴/𝐵 ratio from values close to one to much high values as usually observed in metals, thereby support the idea of high conductivity at higher doping levels. The nature of dopant ions and their doping levels control the charge carriers concentration as well as electrical conductivity of polyaniline. The electrical conductivity has also been studied as a function of temperature to know the thermally assisted transport process of these charge carriers at different doping levels which has been found to follow the Mott’s variable range hopping (VRH) conduction model for all the three dopants used. The charge carriers show a change over from 3D VRH to quasi 1D VRH hopping process for multivalent ions at higher doping levels whereas 1D VRH has been followed by monovalent ion for full doping range. These studies collectively give evidence of inter-chain percolation at higher doping levels causing increase in effective mobility of the charge carriers which mainly seems to govern the electrical conduction behaviour in this system.

Copper telluride (CuTe) nanowires were synthesized electrochemically from aqueous acidic solution of copper (II) sulphate (CuSO₄.5H₂O) and tellurium oxide (TeO₂) on a copper substrate by template-assisted electrodeposition method. The electrodeposition was conducted at 30 °C and the length of nanowires was controlled by adjusting deposition time. Structural characteristics were examined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope which confirm the formation of CuTe nanowires. Investigation for chemical sensing was carried out using air and chloroform, acetone, ethanol, glycerol, distilled water as liquids having dielectric constants 1, 4.81, 8.93, 21, 24.55, 42.5 and 80.1, respectively. The results unequivocally prove that copper telluride nanowires can be fabricated as chemical sensors with enhanced sensitivity and reliability.

The special behaviour of nanowires with respect to electrical conductivity makes them suitable for sensing application. In this paper, we present a copper–ferrous (CuFe) nanowires based sensor for detection of chemicals. CuFe nanowires were synthesized by template-assisted electrochemical method. By optimizing the deposition parameters, continuous nanowires on a copper substrate were synthesized. The morphological and structural studies of the synthesized CuFe nanowires were carried out using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Substrates containing CuFe nanowires were moulded to form a capacitor. Different chemicals were used as dielectric in the capacitor which showed that the capacitance was a nonlinear function of the dielectric constant of fluid unlike the linear relation shown by conventional capacitors. This unique property of the nanowires based capacitors may be utilized for developing fluid sensors with improved sensitivity.

Carbon-epoxy (C-epoxy) laminated composites having different fibre volume fractions (40, 50, 60 and 70) were fabricated with and without the addition of aminofunctionalized carbon nanofibres (A-CNF). Flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and tensile strength of the composite laminates were determined. It was observed that, the ability of A-CNF to enhance the mechanical properties of C-epoxy diminished significantly as the fibre volume fraction (𝑉_f) of the C-epoxy increased from 40 to 60. At 70𝑉_f, the mechanical properties of the A-CNF reinforced C-epoxy were found to be lower compared to the C-epoxy composite made without the addition of A-CNF. In this paper suitable mechanisms for the observed trends are proposed on the basis of the fracture modes of the composite.

Polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP) process-based C/SiC composites are fabricated using the in-housesynthesized methyl-polycarbosilane (PCS). Two-level factorial design matrix is employed to carry out experiments to studythe effect of four factors on flexural strength of the composite.Total sixteen sets of composite samples are fabricated.Responsetable, normal probability plot, ANOVA and regression analysis are carried out to determine the statistical significant factors.Composite density ($\rho$), fibre volume fraction ($V_{\rm f}$ ) and pyrolysis temperature ($T$) are found to be statistically significant, while softening point (SP) of the PCS and interaction of these four factors are found insignificant. Higher levels of thedensity and $V_{\rm f}$ have shown positive effect, while the pyrolysis temperature has negative effect on the flexural strength of the composites. Flexural strength was found to be in the range of 374–592 MPa depending on the process parameters. Themechanical behaviour of the composites at different process conditions was explained with the help of their microstructures.

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–cobalt ferrite (CFO) nanocomposite films were synthesized by wet chemical method. The synthesized CFO nanomaterial was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM), which confirm the formation of pure phase nanoparticles with cuboid shape. The variation in AC conductivity is measured as a function of frequency (within the range of 100 Hz$^{–1} MHz) and temperature (from 303 to 403 K). It was observed that the frequency exponent, $S$, decreases with increasing temperature, which is explained by correlated barrier hopping (CBH) conduction mechanism. Frequency dependence of real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity of PVA–CFO nanocomposite films for different temperatures is studied on the basis of the modified Cole–Cole model. The dielectric permittivity of the samples reveals an increasing tendency with the concentration of CFO filler in PVA matrix. A high value of 89 emu g$^{−1}$ saturation magnetization and 652 Oe coercivity are observed in CFO nanoparticle.The coercivity increased in PVA–CFO nanocomposite when compared to CFO nanoparticle, which is expected due to inverse magnetostrictive effect. The increasing tendency of dielectric constant and magnetization of the nanocomposites with the increasing CFO concentration enhances the potential of applications in miniaturization of the antenna system and electromagnetic shielding materials.

Silicon carbide quantum dots (SiC-QD) embedded inside the SiC thin film deposited on silicon (111) wafer is directly synthesized by modified chemical vapour deposition technique using boron-doped liquid polycarbosilane as aprecursor. Subsequent microscopic characterization of the thin film exhibits the presence of QD, which is theoretically corroborated from the exciton Bohr radius. The film shows interesting visible and near-infra-red photoluminescence atroom temperature with enhanced lifetime. In addition to the lifetime, the quantum efficiency in the visible emission was also enhanced substantially than what was reported previously.

Homodinuclear cobalt(II) complexes of the tetraiminediphenol macrocycle were synthesized by employing the process of Schiff base condensation reaction of 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol and 4-substituted-o-phenylenediaminesin the presence of cobalt(II) template. The spectroscopic techniques and mass spectrometry were utilized so as to carry out the characterization for the obtained complexes. On implementing thermal analysis, the complexes were found to exhibit high thermal stability such that they form Co$_3$O$_4$ nanoparticles on thermal decomposition. The diffraction peaks appearing in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra indicated that the nanoparticles were crystalline in nature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to identify the surface morphology of Co$_3$O$_4$ nanoparticles. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was undertaken so as to check the chemical purity and stoichiometry of Co$_3$O$_4$ nanoparticles. Thesize of Co$_3$O$_4$ nanoparticles of all the four complexes was found to be 20–40 nm resulting out of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) which also showed that the nanoparticles were spherical in shape. It has been authenticated withexperimental evidence that the substituent present on the macrocycles has made substantial impact on the surface morphology, particle size and band gap of Co$_3$O$_4$. UV–Vis spectroscopic technique clearly reveals the quantum confinementeffects of the title material.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are formed below the octadecanethiol (ODT) Langmuir monolayer and the nanoparticles attached ODT monolayer is deposited on hydrophilic silicon substrate using the conventional Langmuir– Blodgett (LB) technique. X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy analysis confirm that effectively monolayer- and trilayer-like structures are developed on the solid surface for single up stroke and multiple numbers of up-down-up cyclesof the substrate through the ODT layer. Transmission electron microscopy provides the size distribution of the deposited nanoparticles, while Fourier transform infrared study confirms the deposition of ODT layer and leaching of some thiol molecules due to multiple up/down strokes of the substrate. Effective growth of only single and double layers of AuNPs is possible on hydrophilic solid surface by the conventional LB method.