Preparation and Electrical Property of Polypyrrole-Polyethylene Composite

Abstract

Polypyrrole-polyethylene composites have been prepared by pressing the mixture of polypyrrole coated and non-coated polyethylene spheres. Electrical conductivity is enhanced by more than 16 orders of magnitude and its activation energy decreases remarkably at concentration of polypyrrole coated polyethylene above around 10-20%, which corresponds to effective polypyrrole concentration of 0.1-0.2%. These characteristics can be explained by a percolation model. That is, at this concentration electrodes are bridged by conducting channel of doped polypyrrole. Thermoelectric power increases in proportion to absolute temperature and is independent on concentration of polypyrrole coated polyethylene sphere above 30%, which support the percolation model. The electrical property of this polypyrrole-polyethylene composite is found to be stable up to 160°C. The application of this composite to the semiconducting layer of a cable has been proposed.