Electrical conduction mechanism of polypyrrole-alginate polymer films

The polypyrrole (PPy) - alginate (Ag) blend films were synthesized using different wt% of Ag and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. The morphology was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrical conductivity was determined by studying the I-V characteristics at temperatures ranging from 300-500 K. The results are shown by measuring the dependence of the current on the field, temperature, and blending compositions in the form of the I-V characteristics, and the analysis was made by interpretation of the Poole-Frenkel, Schottky ln (J) vs. T plots. For individual polymers, the conduction mechanism was observed to be a Poole-Frenkel type. After the polymer blend was formed, charge conduction appeared to be the Poole-Frenkel mechanism at both lower and higher temperatures. These results suggest that the Pool-Frenkel mechanism is mainly responsible for the observed conduction. The conductivity of the films increased with increasing alginate wt% in the blend and the mobility of the charge carriers increased with increasing alginate wt% concentration in the blend.