ENHANCED CONDUCTIVITY AND APPLICATION POTENTIAL OF POLYANILINE NANOCELLULOSE COMPOSITE FILMS IN FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS

Abstract

This work presents the study of polymer-based nanocomposite films, consisting of polyaniline doped with nanocellulose. The difficulty in doping PANI with semiconductor composites, and low solubility in most of the available solvents constrains the commercial applications of PANI, especially in flexible electronic devices. Hence, the need to explore new and promising organic conducting materials for high-temperature applications and optoelectrical applications cannot be overstated. The charge transport abilities of the films were studied as a function of the concentration of PANI. The syntheses were carried out using ammonium persulfate as an oxidant with different molar ratios of oxidant to monomer. Deposition of the material was done to facilitate the Profilometry results which showed the thickness of each Polyaniline nanocellulose composite films. Spectroscopic techniques, such as UV-Visible spectroscopy, was used to carefully study the optical characteristics of the composite films. The electrical properties of the PANI nanocomposite films were investigated using the Hall Effect measurement system which showed the carrier density, electrical conductivity, resistivity, sheet resistance and mobility of polyaniline nanocellulose composite films. The results show that the composite films have excellent resistance to temperature, and with a charge mobility of approximately 4.002E-01 – 1.893E+10 (cm²/Vs). Additionally, the effects of PANI concentration on the charge transport were investigated. It was found that increasing the concentration of PANI up to 0.5 wt% results in an increase in the charge transport coefficient, while further increases in concentration caused a decrease in the charge transport coefficient. The synthesized films exhibited enhanced electrical conductivity, improved mechanical flexibility, and demonstrated potential applications in flexible electronics, sensors, and actuators. This advancement in composite materials shows significant promise for future flexible electronic devices. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that PANI nanocomposite films when doped with nanocellulose possess excellent charge transport properties and are capable of reducing the electrical leakage current.