Studies on Electrical Transport Properties of Some Conducting Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

This work presents enhancement in AC conductivities of CPs namely newlinePANI and PPy and methods of simultaneously overcoming some of their major newlinedisadvantages such as lack of mechanical strength and chemical stability. Of the newlinemany possible routes in this direction, this work adopts two routes; 1) by newlineconsidering their composites and 2) by synthesizing the composites by simple newlinein-situ polymerization or by simple mechanical mixing method or both as in newlineternary composites. So, the overall work is presented in three phases based on newlinethe method of synthesis. newlineThe first phase involves study on enhancement in AC conductivity of newlinePANI by synthesizing its binary composites namely PANI-CMC, PANI-NF and newlinePANI-TiO2 by in-situ polymerization. The second phase involves study on newlineachieving enhancement in AC conductivity of PANI and PPy by preparing the newlinerespective binary composites of PANI and PPy namely PANI-TMO composites newlineand PMCN composites by simple mechanical mixing method to overcome the newlinedrawbacks of in-situ polymerization. The third phase involves study on newlineenhancement in AC conductivity of PPy, first by preparing its binary newlinecomposites - PPy/Cu composite and PPy/Ag composite by in-situ newlinepolymerization and further improving their AC conductivity by preparing their newlineternary composites - PPy/Cu-ZnO composite and PPy/Ag-Ta2O5 composite by newlinemechanical mixing method. newlineAll the samples are structurally and morphologically characterized by newlineFTIR, XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. Some of the samples are also further newlinecharacterized using FESEM and RAMAN spectroscopic techniques. All the newlinecharacterization studies are thoroughly analyzed in relation to their electrical newlineconducting behavior. newlineAbstract 5 newlineCharge transport mechanism in all these composites is understood by newlineapplying suitable theoretical models viz., CBH, QMT, SPT and LPT to the newlineexperimentally measured data. The three phases of investigations mentioned newlineabove are outlined below. newlinePhase I newlineFirstly, CMC, a biopolymer was composited with PANI by in-situ newlinepolymerization. Enhan