Investigation on dielectric properties of polyaniline (PANI) sulphonic acid (SA) composites prepared by interfacial polymerization

Abstract

Present work is primarily emphasized on the study of dielectric properties of sulphonic acids (SA) incorporated polyaniline (PANI). SA's function as dopants as well as surfactants for PANI. The PANI and PANI-SA samples are prepared by interfacial technique. The three composites prepared with three SA's (camphor sulphonic acid (CSA), dodecylbenzene sulphonic acid (DBSA) and polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA)) are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermogram (DTG) prior to dielectric studies. The results of PANI not incorporated with SA are also shown for comparison. XRD shows enhancement of crystallinity on SA doping. FTIR confirms the molecular structure with enhanced oxidation states on SA doping. FESEM shows fibrillar morphology with reduced fiber diameter from 86 nm in pure PANI to minimum of 50 nm in one of the composites. TGA and DTG results show better thermal stability on SA doping. The dielectric and AC conductivity measurements of the undoped and dopedPANI are studied inthe frequency range of 42 kHz - 2 MHz and in the temperature range of 300 K–330 K. The dielectric constant for all the PANI composites increases with increase in temperature which indicates increase in mobility of the electric dipoles in the polymers. The dielectric constant for DBSA doped PANI is nearly 5000 which is much higher in context to interfacially polymerized nanofibres compared to that of undoped PANI where this value is about 800. Electric modulus studies show relaxation peaks in imaginary modulus spectra which ascertains about the type of relaxation process. The AC conductivity of the composites is found to be much higher than that of undoped PANI. The electrical conductivity increases with increase of temperature. This is suggested to be caused due to the activated trapped charge carriers.