Structural and Electronic Properties of PPy-DBSA/Zirconium Oxide Composites

The composites of doped polypyrrole (PPy) with dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) and zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nanoparticles have been prepared by in-situ polymerization method. The structural properties of synthesized polypyrrole and PPy-DBSA-ZrO2 were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. XRD pattern show that PPy-DBSA is intercalated into the layers of ZrO2 successfully and thus the degree of crystallinity increases due to crystalline nature of ZrO2. FTIR analysis indicated that there is a strong interaction between PPy-DBSA and ZrO2 nanoparticles. Electronic properties (dielectric and conductivity) of PPy and PPy-DBSA-ZrO2 composite have been investigated between frequency ranges from 20 Hz to 1M Hz. Higher dielectric constants and dielectric losses of PPy-DBSA-ZrO2 composites than those of synthesized PPy and PPy-DBSA were found. As the content of ZrO2 increased, the dielectric constant and loss also increased. The value of dielectric constant for all samples is very high at low frequency but decreases with increase in frequency. Synthesis of PPy-DBSA-ZrO2 composite materials with a large dielectric constant is essential for the improvement of a novel generation dynamic RAM and in charge storage devices.