Electronic thermal conductivity, thermoelectric properties and supercapacitive behaviour of conjugated polymer nanocomposite (polyaniline-WO3) thin film

A facile two-step, binder-free, chemical bath deposition (CBD) method was successfully employed in the synthesis of WO3 nanograins onto the matrix of conjugated polymer (polyaniline). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the nanocomposite retained monoclinic phase of WO3 even when dispersed in polyaniline matrix. Owing to the synergistic effect offered by both the nanocomposite and structured metal oxide which may enhance the surface area, polyaniline-WO3 nanocomposite exhibited good specific capacitance. Polyaniline-WO3 yielded maximum specific capacitance similar to 96 F/g at scan rate of 5 mV/s in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte. With the electronic thermal conductivity showing strong dependence on temperature, the estimated dimensionless figure of merit zT similar to 10(-3) shows that the polymer nanocomposite (PNC) is promising as a new type of thermoelectric material. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the PNC exhibited both pseudocapacitive and electric double layer capacitance behaviour.