Preparation of carbon dot/polyaniline composites as voltage based dielectric material for capacitor applications

Polyaniline-carbon dot (CD/PANI) composites were prepared via in-situ oxidative polymerization of aniline in the presence of carbon dots, with specific concentrations carefully controlled during synthesis. The composite was characterized using spectroscopic (FT-IR), morphological (TEM, SEM) and electrical methods. Impedance analysis was employed to investigate the transport behavior of charge carriers in the frequency range of 500 Hz to 10 MHz at 25 °C. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the dielectric properties of the CD/PANI composite, including dielectric constant, dielectric loss, loss factor, AC conductivity, admittance, impedance, and Cole–Cole plots. The dielectric constant of the CD/PANI composite was 6.97 for 1 kHz at 0.5 V and 12.87 for 1 kHz at 5 V. The values indicate that the increase in the dielectric constant of nanocomposite with increasing voltage. This suggests that CD/PANI composite is a dielectric material whose dielectric constants are controlled by applied voltage. Notably, the dielectric constant increased with rising applied voltage and decreased with increasing frequency. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements revealed that the composite's dielectric parameters could be tuned by varying the applied DC voltage, suggesting its potential as a voltage-dependent dielectric (VDD) material for capacitor applications. Furthermore, the enhanced electrical conductivity indicates that the CD/PANI composite is a promising candidate for next-generation dielectric devices.