Effect of polyaniline on the electrical conductivity and activation energy of electrospun nylon films

Nano films of nylon 6 and polyaniline (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 wt. %) were prepared by the electrospinning technique. The addition of polyaniline increased the electrical conductivity of nylon 6. Pure nylon had an electrical conductivity of 3.8 x 10(-3) S/cm, while the conductivity of nylon 6 with 1% polyaniline was 10.2 x 10(-3) S/cm. In addition, the electrospinning process increased the electrical conductivity of bulk nylon 6 from 10(-14) S/c to 10.2 x 10(-3) S/cm. The viscosity and surface tension of nylon 6 decreased with increasing polyaniline content. The morphology of the prepared films was observed with SEM, and the average diameter of the fibre diameters, which was measured statically from the SEM images, was found to be 74 nm for a nylon film with 4 wt.% polyaniline, and 180 nm for pure nylon. The nanofibre films showed an enhanced electrical conductivity with increasing polyaniline concentration, from 2.627 x 10(-10) S/cm for a pure nylon film to 3.44 x 10(-7) S/cm for a nylon film with 6 wt.% polyaniline. The activation energy decreased with increasing polyaniline concentration. The activation energy was 0.135,-0.0899, 0.0864, 0.0811, 0.078, 0.075 and 0.07299 eV for pure nylon, and nylon with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 wt.% polyaniline, respectively. The activation energy of the prepared nylon films decreased in comparison with the activation energy of a pure nylon 6 film, while the electrical conductivity increased as the amount of polyaniline was increased. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.