Doping and Irradiation Dependence of Electrical Conductivity of Fe3+ and Ni2+ Doped Polyvinyl Alcohol Films.

PVA and doped PVA films were prepared by solution casting. The Change in electrical conductivity of pure PVA and transition elements FeCl3 and NiCl2∙6H2O doped PVA films with and without γ-irradiation in the temperature range 50-130 C has been investigated using four point probe technique. The dc electrical conductivity increases with increase in dopant concentration, with temperature and γ-irradiation. The results revealed that γ-irradiation enhances the electrical conductivity. The variation of electrical conductivity σ with temperature, before and after irradiation is due to the intermolecular hydrogen bonding between Fe3+ with OH group of PVA and Ni2+ with OH group of PVA.We found that Fe3+ doped PVA films show higher conductivity than Ni2+ doped PVA films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]