Dielectric Spectroscopy of Nanostructured Polypyrrole-NiO Composites

Abstract

Conducting polypyrrole-nickel oxide (polypyrrole-NiO) composites were synthesized by in situ deposition technique by placing different weight percentages of NiO powder (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%) during the polymerisation of pyrrole. The polypyrrole-NiO composites were later characterised with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) which confirms the presence of polypyrrole in the composite. AC conductivity was studied in the frequency range from 102 to 107 Hz. From these studies it is found that AC conductivity remains constant at low frequency and increases rapidly at higher frequency, which is the characteristic behavior of disordered materials. The dielectric behavior of these composites was also investigated in the frequency range 102–107 Hz. It is observed from these studies that the dielectric constant and dielectric tangent loss decrease exponentially with frequency. The composites exhibit a low value of dielectric loss at higher frequency.