Electrical studies of low energy Ar9+ irradiated conducting polymer PANI-PVA

Polyaniline (PANI) prepared using water soluble support polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was subjected to irradiation with 150 keV Argon (Ar9+) ion at the fluence of 7.68×1014 ion/cm2 with beam current of 2 μA (electrical). There has been implantation of Ar atoms. The field dependence of dielectric response has been measured in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 MHz and in the temperature range from room temperature to the glass transition temperature. Dielectric constants have been found to be more for the Ar9+-implanted polymer than for the pristine sample. The frequency dependence of the imaginary complex impedance (Z″) is found to obey Arrhenius law with an activation energy of 0.29 eV for unirradiated and 0.53 eV for the Ar9+-implanted polymer. Using the Cole-Cole model, an analysis of the real and imaginary parts of the impedance is performed, which reflects an increase in polydispersive nature after irradiation. Resistivity analysis shows three-dimensional (3D) Variable Range Hopping (VRH) at low temperature in contrast with two-dimensional (2D) VRH. There has been a decrease in the localization length as well as an increase in the energy gap due to the scission of bonds by the energy deposited by Ar 9+ ions.