Novel synthesis of polyaniline/tellurium (PANI/Te) nanocomposite and its EMI shielding behavior

A one-pot thermal method for the synthesis of polyaniline/tellurium PANI/Te nanocomposite with the conducting emeraldine salt (ES) form of polyaniline is presented. The PANI/Te nanocomposite is synthesized via the reaction of in situ generated tellurium with aniline in the presence of a small amount of 2-mercaptoethanol (MPE) at the boiling temperature of aniline, where MPE acted as a reducing agent. The nanocomposite so generated was characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, SEM, and AFM and then tested for its application in EMI shielding. The UV-Vis spectrum showed the absorption bands corresponding to benzenoid and quinoid excitations in polyaniline at 354, 382 and 605 nm. FTIR confirmed the peaks due to ES polyaniline. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of PANI/Te with impurities of TeO2. The addition of 4 wt% of Ag NPs to the PANI/Te nanocomposites increased the EMI shielding effectiveness of PANI/Te films fabricated in PVA from -4 dB to about -10 dB. This is probably the first study of a PANI nanocomposite involving Te for EMI application. A comparative study of the EMI shielding properties of PANI/Te alone, as well as doped with Ag and additional Te, is presented. The synthesized PANI/Te nanocomposite was loaded into PVA for the investigation of EMI shielding behaviour in the X-band.