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 center dot 6H(2)O doped PVA films with and without gamma-irradiation in the temperature range 50-130 degrees C has been investigated using four point probe technique. The dc electrical conductivity increases with increase in dopant concentration, with temperature and gamma-irradiation. The results revealed that gamma-irradiation enhances the electrical conductivity. The variation of electrical conductivity sigma 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.