Electrorheology of conducting polyaniline- composite

Organic-inorganic composite of polyaniline and barium titanate (PANI-$BaTiO_3$) was synthesized via an in-situ oxidation polymerization of aniline in the presence of barium titanate ($BaTiO_3$) nanoparticles dispersed in an acidic medium. Barium titanate has large electric resistance and relatively high dielectric constant which is one of the essential properties for its electrorheological (ER) applications. The microstructure and composition of the obtained PANI/$BaTiO_3$ composite were characterized by SEM, FT-IR and XRD. In addition, we also employed a rotational rheometer to investigate the rheological performance of the ER fluids based on both pure PANI particle and PANI/$BaTiO_3$ composite. It was found that the composite materials possess much higher yield stresses than the pristine PANI due to unique dielectric properties of the inorganic $BaTiO_3$ particles. Finally, we also examined dynamic yield stress by analyzing its extrapolated yield stress data as a function of electric field strengths. Using the critical electric field strengths deduced, we further found that the universal yield stress equation collapses their data onto a single curve.