Structural and Dielectric Properties of Polythiophene/Chrom(III) Acetylacetonate Composites

The dielectric and morphological properties of polythiophene (PT) filled with various mass fractions of chrom(III) acetylacetonate (Cr(acac)(3)), synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization, are described. Significant shifts of the absorption peak of the C-S bond in the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra indicated that the metal cations mostly interacted with sulfur atoms. Thermal analyses performed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that the cold crystallization temperature (T-cc) of PT decreased with increasing doping level. Microstructural differences were observed between PT and its composites in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Dielectric measurements showed that the conductivity of the PT significantly increased with increasing doping level, from similar to 10(-7) S/m to similar to 10(-4) S/m at 10 kHz and 300 K.