Electrical properties and glass transition temperature of multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyaniline composites

Abstract Polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized and doped with 0, 2, 4 and 16 wt.% of pure and functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by “in-situ” polymerization. Measurement of temperature dependence of electrical resistivity showed a reduction in the resistivity of the composites at all temperatures. The reduction was increased by increasing the wt.% of MWCNTs. This decrease was more for the composites containing functionalized MWCNTs and was more prominent for temperatures below 150 K. The glass transition temperature (T g ) of the pure and doped PANI was measured using electrical resistivity measurements. It was observed that by increasing the amount of functionalized MWCNTs in PANI, its T g increases. Temperature dependence of resistivity of pressed pure PANI showed that by increasing the pelletization pressure, the bulk electrical resistivity decreased but the T g increased.