In this study, we used 1.2-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) as a coupling agent to synthesize silica-polyaniline (PANI) core-shell nanoparticles. The core-shell nanoparticles and PANI oligomers were reacted with isocyanates to prepare the conductive polyurethane (PU)-PANI-silica nanocomposites. The core-shell-nanoparticle structure shows significant enhancement on electrical properties of the conductive nanocomposites even though only 0.0755-wt.% PANI was coated on the nano-silica. The surface resistance of the nanocomposite containing 5 wt.% PANI can reduce to similar to 10(8) Omega/sq, lowering two orders in contrast to the nanocomposite without the core-shell structure. In comparison with the neat PU, tensile strength and elongation of the nanocomposite containing silica-PANI core-shell nanoparticles can increase 3.1 and 3.8 times, respectively. We suspect that the extraordinary enhancement of electrical and mechanical properties may result from the fact that contact probability among PANI moieties and chemical bonding between particles and PU matrix increase due to the PANI coated on the surface of silica. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.