DEVELOPING CONDUCTING POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES WITH CARBON NANOMATERIALS FOR MOLECULAR DETECTION AND FUEL CELL APPLICATIONS By Rishi R. Parajuli A dissertation submitted to the Graduate-School, Newark Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Chemistry Written under the direction of Professor Huixin He and approved by Newark, New Jersey October, 2011