Electrical conductive properties of some composites of gum arabic biopolymer and magnetite nanoparticles

Abstract

DC electrical conductive properties of some composites of gum arabic biopolymer (host) and magnetite nanoparticles (guest) synthesized in different weight percentages have been studied as a function of temperature and applied bias voltage to explore the effect of the guest on the electrical conduction of the host. Two types of trap distributions (single discrete and exponential) have been found in these composites. The observed results show that the conductivity of the composites increases with increasing guest content along with a decrease in activation energy. Percolation theory has been employed for the analysis of the room temperature electrical conductivity enhancement with the variation of guest content. The activation energy and the pre-exponential factor values estimated following Arrhenius relation satisfies the compensation law.