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Graphical abstract Highlights • Using chemical free method of preparation of Ag nanoparticles. • Effect of humidity and antimicrobial effect are studied simultaneously. • Correlation between silver nanoparticle concentration and surface roughness. Abstract Polymer-metal nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical, optical, electrical, dielectric, and antimicrobial properties are currently in high demand for many industrial applications. Here, we study and present the effect of UV-reduced silver nanoparticles on the synthesis of polyaniline-polyvinyl alcohol-silver nanocomposites (PPVA-Ag) and utilize them to make a humidity sensor and antimicrobial agent. A thorough study of the surface morphology of the prepared films using SEM, AFM, and profilometry is performed; it is found that uniform film is formed in all these cases. These studies show that an increase in Ag concentration leads to an increase in the surface micro roughness of the PPVA-Ag film. XPS determines the chemical composition of the prepared PPVA-Ag nanocomposites. At different humidity conditions, the electrical resistivity of the PPVA-Ag nanocomposites is measured. The results show uniform changes in resistivity with an increase in humidity and good repeatability. These polymer-metal nanocomposites are found to have exhibited antimicrobial abilities making them useful for biomedical applications as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Flexible microattern preparation using a simple drop cast method. • High stable polyaniline-CNTs micropatterns were obtained using chemical-free plasma treatment process. • Addition of 0.1 % of CNTs on micropatterns gives very high electrical conductivity and mechanical properties flexible microattern preparation using a simple drop cast method. In this work, laboratory prepared PANI and it's composite with carbon nanotubes (PANI/CNTs) were used for the fabrication of micropatterns on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using the drop cast method and plasma technology. Plasma technology was employed as an adhesion promoter between the PET substrate and PANI layers, as was confirmed by the peel tests. The PANI and PANI-CNTs deposited layers on PET were thoroughly characterized in terms of the surface, as well as the structural morphology, by various microscopic and scanning probe techniques. Moreover, the electrical conductivity of the deposited layers was confirmed by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and conductive atomic force microscopy (ORCA-AFM). The presence of CNTs in the PANI/CNTs composite was responsible for the more uniform and compact deposited layers and better electrical conductivity. The laboratory prepared PANI/CNTs samples excelled in terms of their stable conductivity in the whole frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]