Investigation of optical and electrical properties of piperic acid-filled polyaniline composites

Abstract

In this study, the electrical and optical properties of the piperic acid (PA)-filled polyaniline-HCl (PANI-HCl) composites (PANI-HCl/PA) were investigated. For this purpose, the composites containing different weight ratios of PA were prepared by the oxidative chemical polymerization of PANI-HCl. The studies on the optical properties of the pristine PANI-HCl and the composites showed that the bandgap of the PANI-HCl reduced from 2.510 to 2.490 eV with the addition of 3% PA. Additionally, significant alterations such as redshift, improved polarizability, and tuned refractive were observed. From the thermoelectric analyses, it was obtained that the electrical conductivity of the pristine PANI-HCl increased from 0.042 up to 37.5 Scm−1 while the Seebeck coefficient increased from 10.1 up to 49.1 µVK−1. The thermoelectric power factor of the composites reached the maximum at 3.91 µWm−1K−2, which is approximately 104 times higher compared to the pristine PANI-HCl. Given the significant changes such as redshift, band gap narrowing, improved polarizability, tuned refractive index, and enhanced thermoelectric performance, this study suggests that the composites prepared in this study could be used as efficient materials for the design and development of UV shielding and thermoelectric materials.