Electromagnetic absorption efficiency of polypropylene/montmorillonite/polypyrrole nanocomposites

Electrical conductivity and dielectric properties have been studied for two types of polypropylene composites containing conducting phase. One type comprised conducting polymer-polypyrrole while the second employed montmorillonite particles coated with conducting polymer-polypyrrole. Composites' shielding properties were estimated based on their previously determined electromagnetic characteristics. Unlike a basic binary polypropylene/polypyrrole composite, the ternary sample with multicomponent montmorillonite particles exhibits higher dielectric losses and consequently a significant rise in shielding efficiency in the radio-frequency range of 0.1-1.5 GHz. This stems from the presence of highly polarizable multicomponent montmorillonite anisotropic lamellar particles with polypyrrole conducting layer, which considerably increases the complex permittivity of the composite. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.