Dielectric response and thermal conductivity of nanostructured microcomposites: High Density Polyethylene filled with a mixture of ZnO and HCl doped polyaniline

In this study, polyaniline (PAni), was used to surround Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles to be dispersed in a High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) matrix. The dielectric properties of the composite samples were characterized using dielectric spectroscopy in a wide range of frequencies (10⁻² Hz – 1 MHz) at room temperature. Interesting results were found especially for the sample containing 10 wt% of ZnO/PAni. The presence of PAni in the composite systems contributes to an increase in conductivity of two orders of magnitude. An interfacial relaxation peak was observed for all composite films and was found to shift toward higher frequency when the amount of PAni surrounding the ZnO particle increased. The thermal conductivity of HDPE-ZnO/PAni-lO 10 wt% was also greatly improved, i.e. by about 35% in comparison with that of the pure matrix.