Study of the DC-electrical properties of a novel polyvinyl alcohol/Ag hybrid nanocomposites

Abstract

The present paper investigates a detailed study on the electrical properties of pure PVA and PVA/Ag nanocomposite films. In this concern, PVA/Ag nanocomposites with different contents of inorganic phase of 2 to 8 wt% were prepared by reduction of Ag⁺ ions in PVA solution using gamma irradiation with different doses of 15, 25, 50, 75 and 100 kGy. In FTIR analysis proved the formation of chemical bonding/conjugation between the Ag nanoparticles and PVA chains. The dc-electrical conductivity was shown to be function of both Ag concentration and gamma-dose, where its value was shown to increase, up to around 5.3 × 10^-9 S.cm^-1, as a function of Ag concentration, up to about 7.0 wt%, while, it starts decreasing for higher Ag concentration. On the other hand, its value was shown to be decreased as the gamma-dose increased to 50 kGy. For higher dose levels, up to 100 kGy, the conductivity re-increases, again, up to around 6.5 × 10^-9 S.cm^-1.

Keywords: Polyvinyl alcohol, silver, nanocomposite, gamma-radiation, dc-electrical conductivity, conduction mechanism, electrometer.