Synthesis and electrical properties of polyaniline–cerium oxide composites

Abstract Polyaniline (PANI)/Cerium oxide (CeO2) hybrid composites with different concentrations of CeO2 were synthesized by in-situ polymerization of aniline. The resulting composites were characterized by various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). It was observed that the increase in concentration of CeO2 to PANI decreases the DC and AC conductivity of the composite. The CeO2 in PANI may block the charge carriers or reduces the delocalization length because of which reduction in conductivity was observed. The reduction in the quantum mechanical tunneling of charge carriers also could be the reason for the observed reduction in conductivity. The relaxation time (τ) increases from 0.4 μs for PANI to 154.5 μs for 20 wt% CeO2 sample also supports the electrical results. It is worth to mention that the precise modification in the relaxation is possible with varying CeO2 concentration, which can be helpful to get tailor-made properties. Hence this paper highlights the effect of CeO2 on AC and DC conducting properties of PANI/CeO2 composites. AC and DC conducting properties conclude that the synthesized composites can be used in energy storage, electronic devices, and biosensor applications.