from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Ghassoul [rasul], stevensite-rich clay from Morocco, was used as a component of electrically conducting polypyrrole/ghassoul and polyaniline/ghassoul nanocomposites with polymer:clay ratio 1:1. The nanocomposites in powder form were obtained by polymerization of pyrrole and anilinium sulfate, respectively, in aqueous suspension of ghassoul. Ammonium peroxydisulfate was used as an oxidizing agent for the preparation of polyaniline/ghassoul nanocomposite. In case of polypyrrole/ghassoul nanocomposites, two oxidizing agents, ammonium peroxydisulfate and ferric chloride, were tested and compared. Nanocomposites were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetry, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and conductivity measurements. Conductivity of nanocomposites in powder form was compared with conductivity of pressed tablets. Tablets pressed from nanocomposite containing polypyrrole synthesized using ferric chloride exhibit significant electrical anisotropy: conductivity in direction parallel to the tablet’s plane is ~580× higher than conductivity in direction perpendicular to the tablet’s plane. Possible application of tablets as load sensors was tested.
Keywords: Polyaniline, polypyrrole, ghassoul, nanocomposite, conductivity© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.