Authors : Aiman Moftah A. Dandi and Elias Saion
Abstract: Electrical conducting Polythiophene (Pth) was prepared by the gamma radiation method from 28.6 wt.% 2-thiopheneacetyl chloride blended in Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) films. The film samples were irradiated at different doses of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kGy at ambient condition. This method was used without adding any type of chemical oxidizing agents. Upon gamma irradiation, the 2-thiopheneacetyl chloride monomer polymerized into conducting PTh by losing H+ ions and formed conducting species of polarons. The SEM morphology of PTh/PVA composites showed that the particles have a spherical structure of about 0.7 μm in diameter and spread uniformly in the PVA matrix. The UV-visible spectrophotometry and impedance analyzer were used to characterize the optical and electrical properties of PTh particles, respectively. The absorption peak was established at 400 nm. The optical band gap energy (Eg) decreases with the increase of the absorbed dose from 2.35 eV before starting the irradiation process to 2.15 eV at 30 kGy. The dc electrical conductivity through the PTh/PVA composites increases with the increasing of absorbed dose from 2.8x10-4 S m-1 at 0 kGy to 9.8x10-4 S m-1 at 30 kGy.
Aiman Moftah A. Dandi and Elias Saion, 2014. Optical and Electrical Characterization of Conducting Polythiophene Composite Synthesized by Gamma-Ray Irradiation Method. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 9: 92-98.