Abstract
Core-shell single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/ polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites were chemically synthesized and their structural, morphological, and dielectric properties were investigated as a function of the nanofiller content. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images confirm the core-shell nanostructural features of the composites. Broadband dielectric spectroscopy allows the detection of an interfacial dielectric relaxation mechanism which is quite dependent on the dispersion of nanoparticles into the semi-conducting polyaniline matrix. Furthermore, the relaxation process analysed through Kohlrausch-William-Watts (KWW) model, is found to take place at lower nanofiller loading but progressively fades away on increasing the amount of SWCNT, yielding relaxation spectra which gradually resemble that of a pure conductor. In addition, it is found that competing processes between electrical percolation and interfacial capacitance effects are inherently dependent on the carbon-filler content. Such a behaviour is ascribed to charge trapping and de-trapping phenomena occurring at core-shell interfaces. The possibility of tuning the composition of the nanocomposites in order to trigger an interplay between capacitance and dc-electrical conduction can be envisioned for their application in the next generation of organic-based supercapacitor or gate memory devices.
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