A study on the conductivity of polyaniline polymers

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) is a promising conducting material to be used in a variety of electronic applications ranging from sensors, through solar cells to touch screens. Enhancing the electrical characteristics of polyaniline by increasing the charge carriers, using doping materials, allows for using it as a good alternative for semiconductors in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Zinc sulfide (Zns) is considered one of the attractive doping materials that improve the electrical characteristics of polyaniline owing to the distinctive optical characteristics in the visible range. In this work, a practical study on the electrical properties of polyaniline doped with zinc sulfide is presented and compared with pure PANI. Different volume rates of doping are tested, experimentally, and the results are collected. Voltage-current characteristics and the activation energy levels are obtained for different temperatures. From the results, it has been observed that the conductivity increases by increasing the doping rate and inversely related to temperature. A low activation energy level and improved I-V characteristics are shown to be approachable by careful choice of doping rate. Polyaniline doped with zinc sulfide provides low cost conductors for integrated circuits industry.