Electrical and dielectric investigation of intercalated polypyrrole montmorillonite nanocomposite prepared by spontaneous polymerization of pyrrole into Fe(III)-montmorillonite

• We have prepared and characterized a Fe-MMT/PPy nanocomposites.
• Investigate electrical conductivity and dielectric properties of the nanocomposite.
• Investigate the temperature and frequency dependencies of alternating current conductivity of nanocomposites.

Pyrrole was introduced into Fe(III)-exchanged montmorillonite to spontaneously polymerize within the interlayer resulting in the formation of intercalated polypyrrole-montmorillonite nanocomposite. The molar proportion of pyrrole to interlayer Fe3+ (R) has been varied from 0.5 to 5. The nanocomposite has been characterized by X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electronic Microscope, FTIR spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy. It has been shown that intercalated polypyrrole montmorillonite nanocomposite was obtained.The results showed that the dc conductivity and dielectric properties of polypyrrole depend on R. The alternating current (ac) conductivity of the polymer obeys the power law, i.e., σac(ω) = Aωs. The alternating conductivity of nanocomposite was controlled by the correlated barrier hopping model. The activation energy for alternating current mechanism decreases with increasing frequency which confirms the hopping conduction to the dominant mechanism as compared with the dc activation energy. The dielectric relaxation mechanism was explained on the basis of complex dielectric modulus.