Bismuth nitrate doped polyaniline – Characterization and properties for thermoelectric application

Samples of polyaniline (PANI) doped with different concentrations of Bi(NO3)3 were electrodeposited. The structural characterization showed that the samples were rod like nanostructure with diameter 20 nm. The effect of dopant concentration on the electrical transport properties in the temperature range 300–400 K was discussed. The variation suggests metallic type conduction with a hopping/tunneling mechanism of transport with charge carriers. Thermoelectric power (S) was correlated with temperature through an equation considering the mechanism of transport of carriers. The sign of the carriers were found to be negative. The sample with weight ratio 1:20::PANI:Bi(NO3)3 showed a higher power factor (P) at almost all temperatures.