Dielectric, FTIR spectroscopic and atomic force microscopic studies on polypyrrole‐poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐vinyl acetate) composites

Abstract In this study, Poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐vinyl acetate) [P(AN‐co‐VAc)] composite films were fabricated by chemical polymerization of pyrrole (Py) with cerium(IV) (Ce(IV)) on P(AN‐co‐VAc) matrix. The effect of amount of Py and temperature on the composite film properties was studied in a frequency range starting from 0.05 Hz to 10 MHz and in a temperature range from 0 to 250°C. The electric modulus provides a good description of the dielectric relaxation of the conducting polymer composites. The atomic force microscopy images of the polypyrrole (PPy)‐P(AN‐co‐VAc) composites show the polymerization of Py on P(AN‐co‐VAc) matrix producing different sized grainy orientations resulting in higher conductivity values that increase with average grain size. The real [(ε′) or ε′(ω)] and imaginary [(ε″) or ε″(ω)] parts of the permittivity of PPy‐P(AN‐co‐VAc) composite were comparatively higher than PPy‐Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and P(AN‐co‐VAc). It was also seen that the conductivity of PPy‐P(AN‐co‐VAc) composite was considerably higher than PPy‐PAN and P(AN‐co‐VAc) itself. POLYM. COMPOS., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers