Structural, optical, dielectric and electrical characteristics of flexible blended polymers based on PMMA/PVAc/TBAI and milled PANI for energy storage applications and optoelectronic devices

•The optical dielectric constant values of the doped blends were improved.•As the temperature rises, the electrical dielectric constants of all the blends consistently rise.•The energy density (U) of the PMMA/PVAc/TBAI polymer blend increased after doping it with milled PANI.•All blends have a non-ohmic nature, with the exception of those doped at 303 K with x = 0.11, 0.22 and 0.55.•By introducing milled PANI into the host blend, the Ea values either rise or decrease, depending on the quantity of PANI added. The present study seeks to explore the creation of novel blended polymers composed of poly (methyl methacrylate, PMMA), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI) and polyaniline (PANI) as possible materials for optical and energy storage applications. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to investigate the effect of the milled PANI amount on the structure and morphology of the host blend. The doped blend, PMMA/PVAc/TBAI/x wt% milled PANi blended polymers, with x = 0.55 wt% milled PANI exhibited the maximum absorbance throughout the whole range of wavelength. The transmittance attained its lowest value of 0–23 % when the blend was filled with 0.55 wt% milled PANI. The minimum direct and indirect values for optical band gaps are (4.38, 2.93) and 3.61 eV, respectively in the doped blend with x = 0.55 wt% milled PANI. The blend with x = 0.55 wt% milled PANI yielded the greatest refractive index values (n = 1.55@ 600 nm). An irregular improvement in optical conductivity was obtained as the host blend doped with milling PANI. The blend with a doping level of x = 0.33 wt% milled PANI demonstrated the greatest energy density (U = 6.66 × 10−3 J/m at 1 kHz and 293 K) value. In addition, the temperature increase enhances the values of U for all blends. All blends adhered to the correlated barrier hopping model. The relaxation time is affected by the doping milled PANI amount. The ionic conductivity and activation energy are affected by the amount of milled PANI and temperature. The I-V characteristics of all blends at different temperatures were studied.