(188d) The Electrical Conductivity Properties of Polythiophene/TiO2 Nanocomposites Prepared In the Presence of Surfactants

Titanium dioxide is a widely studied material due to its unique optical, electrical, chemical properties, high photo catalytic activity and photoelectric conversion efficiency. It is well known for its photovoltaic and photo catalytic properties. Among conducting polymers, various derivatives of polythiophene (PT) have been investigated extensively because of their interesting semiconducting, electronic and optical properties, combined with processing advantages and good mechanical characteristics. Furthermore, there are some of the disadvantages associated with conducting polymer composite materials, such as: their conductivity is highly dependent on synthesis conditions, there is often an insulating layer formed on the conductor which effects on the degree of electronic conductivity and the composite may become mechanically or thermally unstable due to heavy loading of the conducting particles.

In this work, TiO2 nanoparticles were modified by small amount addition of polythiophene to improve the dispersibility of TiO2 nanoparticles and enhance the photocatalytic activity of composites. Also, effect of surfactant onto properties of PT/TiO2 nanocomposites was investigated using anionic, cationic and nonionic surfactants. The structural, crystallographic, morphological and thermal properties of the nanocomposites were investigated by using SEM, FTIR, XRD and DTA/TG techniques. The electronic conduction aspects of the produced composites were investigated depending on the temperature and the surfactant type by measuring DC electrical conductivity. The observed consequences of the conductivity were compared to the measured results of the SEM, XRD and DTA/TG. The type of electrical conductivity behavior and the reason/reasons of the different conduction performances of the fabricated composite materials were discussed.