Abstract

The development of nanotechnology enables the provision of optimal and useful materials in various fields, including polymer nanocomposites. By using metal oxide nanostructures produce metallic oxide nanocomposites which are widely used in various industries. In this study, polythiophene/TiO2 and polythiophene/ZrO2 nanocomposites were synthesized and the properties of nanocomposites were characterized using various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, TGA and SEM analysis to obtain the exact structure of nanocomposites. The results showed thermal strength and stability for the prepared nanocomposites which the polythiophene/TiO2 nanocomposite has more thermal stability compared to polythiophene/ZrO2. The analysis of the XRD showed that the crystalline structures of TiO2 and ZrO2 in the nanocomposite were changed by polythiophene. Besides, polythiophene/TiO2 nanocomposite had higher antibacterial properties compared to polythiophene/ZrO2 against E. coli bacteria, but polythiophene/ZrO2 nanocomposite had a better effect against S. aureus. In addition, the two nanocomposites prepared in this study had less antifungal activity compared with their antibacterial properties.