Development of electrically conductive nanocomposites from cellulose nanowhiskers, polypyrrole and silver nanoparticles assisted with Nickel(III) oxide nanoparticles

We developed novel electrically conductive nanocomposites based on cellulose nanowhiskers (CNW) via in situ emulsion polymerization reaction of pyrrole and in presence of silver nitrate (AgNO3) as an oxidative agent and surfactant. CNW were employed as carriers comprising high surface area-to-volume ratio and high porosity. Nickel(III) oxide (Ni2O3) nanoparticles were loaded onto the prepared composites using the sol-gel technique to provide nanocomposites of potentially excellent properties. Different nanocomposites were prepared including polypyrrole/silver NPs (PPy/AgNPs), cellulose nanowhiskers/polypyrrole/silver nanoparticles (CNW/PPy/AgNPs), and cellulose nanowhiskers/polypyrrole/silver nanoparticles/Ni(III) oxide nanoparticles (CNW/PPy/AgNPs-Ni2O3). The structural, morphological, thermal and dielectric properties of the prepared nanocomposites were studied by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The dielectric properties of the prepared nanocomposites, including dielectric constant ε΄(ω), AC conductivity, tan δ, dielectric loss ε˝(ω) and σac were explored. The incorporation of PPy onto CNW composites was found to increase the electrical conductivity from 2.5 × 10−11 to 1.1 × 10−7 S/cm. The AC conductivity was also found to increase upon increasing temperature demonstrating semiconducting activity.