Synthesis, characterization and conducting behavior of heavy metal sensitive polyaniline/zirconium (IV) tungstoiodophosphate nanocomposite Asif Ali Khan *, Leena Paquiza Analytical and Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India Introduction Organic–inorganic hybrid material represent natural interface between the world of chemistry (organic–inorganic) each with very significant contribution to the field of material science and each with characteristic properties of each component trying to decrease or eliminate their drawbacks getting in an ideal way a synergic effect, which results in the development of new material with new properties. Conducting polymers possess good tuneable electrical conduc- tivity and are organic electrochromic materials with chemically active surface [1,2], such as polyaniline. It received great attention since its rediscovery by Shirakawa et al. [3], due to its wide range of application [4–14]. But they are chemically sensitive and have poor mechanical properties and thus pose a processibility problem. On the other hand, inorganic oxides or metal acid salts shows the presence of more sites for surface reactivity and are highly porous in sol form. They also have good mechanical properties and are good dispersants too [15]. Recently, several groups have combined conductive polymers with metal oxides to generate hybrid composites that possess higher reversible capacity, redox cyclability and structural stability [16–20]. The properties of composites of such kind are strongly dependent on concentration of polymer. Polymeric hybrid composites prepared in our laboratory [21–27] have shown excellent ion-exchange behavior as well as electrical conductivity in the semi-conducting range. In the present endeavor, nanocomposite has been chemically prepared by sol–gel mixing of organic conducting polymer, polyaniline with the inorganic ion-exchanger precipitate of multivalent metal acid salt, Zr tungstoiodophosphate, having electrical conductivity higher than the other reported composite cation exchanger [28–32]. The conducting nanocomposite shown remarkable selectivity towards toxic metal copper which proves the potenti- ality of the proposed material in separation science and technology also, indicating its efficiency over other. Experimental Reagents and instruments The main reagents used for the synthesis of the material were obtained from CDH, Loba Chemie, E-merck, and Qualigens (India Ltd., used as received). All other reagents and chemicals were of analytical grade. Following instruments were used during present research work: A FTIR spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer, USA, model Spectrum-BX); digital pH-meter (Elico Li-10, India); X-ray diffractometer—Phillips (Holland), modelPW1148/89; T70-UV–vis Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry xxx (2014) xxx–xxx A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 4 March 2014 Received in revised form 10 July 2014 Accepted 10 July 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Zirconium tungstoiodophosphate Polyaniline Hybrid composites Heavy metal ions DC electrical conductivity A B S T R A C T Preparation, characterization, and evaluation of conducting nature of nano-ordered material has been done by sol–gel mixing of an electrical conducting polymer polyaniline into the matrices of inorganic precipitate zirconium tungstoiodophosphate. The physico-chemical property was determined using TGA–DTA, FTIR, X-ray, and SEM studies. The results of physical properties were found progressive in terms of their specific properties. Electrical conductivity determined by four-in-line probe method shows semi-conducting range, i.e., 10 3 –10 2 S cm 1 . Sensitivity and selectivity was explored by its adsorption efficiency towards heavy metal ions. Proposed material was selective for copper, a heavy toxic metal ion indicating its utility in decreasing pollution load. ß 2014 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 571 2720323. E-mail address: paquiza001@gmail.com (A.A. Khan). G Model JIEC-2122; No. of Pages 9 Please cite this article in press as: A.A. Khan, L. Paquiza, J. Ind. Eng. Chem. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2014.07.012 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry jou r n al h o mep ag e: w ww .elsevier .co m /loc ate/jiec http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2014.07.012 1226-086X/ß 2014 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.