Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Wollastonite Polyindole Composites to Study their Electrical Conductivity Behaviour

Abstract

In this work pure polyindole and its composites with wollastonite have been prepared by using anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl3) as an oxidizing agent. Wollastonite (CaSiO3) was prepared by sol gel method using citric acid, calcium nitrate and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) for the synthesis of composites. Particle size of the synthesized wollastonite was 58.8 nm. Effect of wollastonite weight percentages ranging from 1-25% of the polyindole in polyindole wollastonite (PIn/CaSiO3) composites was studied. Chemical structure was elucidated for polyindole/wollastonite (PIn/CaSiO3) composites and wollastonite (CaSiO3) was done through Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FTIR), which revealed successful fabrication of polyindole/wollastonite (PIn/CaSiO3) composites and wollastonite (CaSiO3) particles. Scanning electron microscopic technique was used for surface morphological studies. Thermal stability of the composites was examined through thermogravimetry. Four probe method was used to measure DC-conductivity of the samples. Composites showed DC conductivity in the range, 3.71´10-7 Siemens per centimeter.