Electrorheological characteristics of polyaniline/titanate composite nanotube suspensions

In this paper, one-dimensional polyaniline/titanate (PANI/TN) composite nanotubes were synthesized by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization directed by block copolymer. These novel nanocomposite particles were used as a dispersed phase in electrorheological (ER) fluids, and the ER properties were investigated under both steady and dynamic shear. It was found that the ER activity of PANI/TN fluids varied with the ratio of aniline to titanate, and the PANI/TN suspensions showed a higher ER effect than that made by sphere-like PANI/TiO2 nanoparticles. These observations were well interpreted by their dielectric spectra analysis; a larger dielectric loss enhancement and a faster rate of interfacial polarization were responsible for a higher ER activity of nanotubular PANI/TN-based fluids.