Dielectric relaxation and thermally activated a.c. conduction in (PVDF)/(rGO) nano-composites: role of rGO over different fillers

Abstract

The present study describes the fabrication of nano-composites of (PVDF)/(rGO) using solution–cast method. We employed two characterizations for PVDF/rGO nano-composites, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, the SEM indicates that the PVDF matrix consists of pores with the presence of globular structures that increases with the increasing rGO concentration, while the FTIR have been used to confirm the interplay between rGO and PVDF matrix. The dielectric measurements of PVDF/rGO nano-composites show a high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss factor. Moreover, frequency and temperature dependent behavior of a.c. conductivity has been carried out in the respective ranges of 102– 106 Hz and 303–393 K. Results of a.c. conductivity and the frequency exponent have been found to obey the theory of correlated barrier hopping. Further analysis shows that thermally assisted a.c. conduction shows the compensation effect. The role of rGO over other recent fillers is also summarized by a comparative tabulation of data available in the literature.