Structural and AC Electrical Properties of Tantalum Disulfide Embedded Polyaniline Composites

Employing in situ chemical polymerization technique, polyaniline-tantalum disulfide (PANI/TaS2) composites in different compositions have been synthesized. Poor crystallinity of the composites has been ascertained by XRD spectra. FTIR studies confirmed that the interaction in composites occurred at interfacial level. TGA results indicated an improvement in the stability of composites. The results of field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have confirmed the incorporation of TaS2 in PANI matrix as the embedded structures. Conductivity in the composite was found to increase by one order of magnitude compared to pristine PANI, and impedance spectra revealed that the conductivity is of electronic in nature. Dielectric behavior of the composites is attributed to the Maxwell–Wagner polarization. As the observed tangent loss peaks are in the low-frequency regime (103 Hz), the present composites may be explored for designing of low or medium frequency devices. Various parameters such as power law exponent, critical frequency and relaxation time have been estimated and discussed.