Structural, thermal, electrical, and dielectric properties of conducting–biopolymers composite matrix containing nano-oxides (MO ₂ , M = Ti, Si, Zr) synthesized via in situ oxidative polymerization

The main objective of this study is to evaluate how different metal oxide nanoparticles influence the physical properties of polymer composite containing conducting polyaniline and biopolymer chitosan, which help in creating sustainable industrial solutions. Herein, a polyaniline-chitosan composite comprising various nano oxides (MO 2 , M = Ti, Si, and Zr) was created using an in situ chemical polymerisation technique. The following methods were used to characterize all synthesised composites: XRD, FT-IR, SEM, BET, TGA, and DTA. The impact of those nano oxides on the polyaniline-chitosan matrix was demonstrated by the structural characterization of every sample under investigation. At room temperature (303 K), the sample containing nano TiO 2 (PACT) had the highest conductivity value (9.75 × 10 −8 S m −1 ) compared to the other samples containing ZrO 2 (PACZ, 5.33 × 10 −8 S m −1 ) and SiO 2 (PACS, 1.14 × 10 −8 S m −1 ). Good thermal stability behaviour was displayed by the same sample. At 1 MHz, the PACT sample had the lowest tan δ value (0.19) among the others in consideration of dielectric characteristics. The PACT sample has the lowest dielectric properties (tangent loss (tan δ)) when compared to other related samples that have been previously studied. Based on these preliminary dielectric measurements, the material may be used for high-frequency device applications such as dynamic random-access memory and decoupling capacitors in radio frequency and microwave technology after further investigations.