Electrical Properties and Characteristics of Polypyrrole/Cadmium Oxide for Thermoelectric Applications

This paper reports that the nanocomposites based on Polypyrrole doped in dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) with different weight percentage of cadmium oxide (CdO) are successfully synthesized from in situ chemical polymerization. For high performance thermoelectric devices, understanding the electronic, structural and thermal properties of materials should be significant. The aim of this work is to study the hybrid composites morphologies as well as the electronic, structural and thermal properties of materials. Electronic properties (dielectric and conductivity), X-rays diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Seebeck coefficients measurements techniques were applied for characterizing the PPy-DBSA and its nanocomposites with CdO. The structure was confirmed by X-rays diffraction studies. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the structural morphology of all composites and increased in grain size and the granular structure was confirmed by it. Electronic properties (dielectric and conductivity) of PPy-DBSA and its nanocomposites with CdO were investigated within the frequency range of (10–10 6 Hz). The results determine as the concentration of CdO in PPy-DBSA is increasing, the dielectric constant is also increasing while dielectric loss is decreasing. Seebeck coefficients and power factor were measured for PPy-DBSA and its nanocomposites with CdO. The present study would be helpful for the development of novel organic/inorganic materials for the future applications of thermoelectric materials.