Preparation and Characterization of Polymer Composites Based on Charge-transfer Complex: O-tolidine-iodine in Polystyrene

Polymer composites of o-tolidine-iodine (1:0.75 molar ratio) charge-transfer complex with polystyrene have been prepared in different weight ratios and characterized by the spectral, structural, thermal and electrical methods. The polymer composites exhibit semiconducting behaviour, having the thermal activation energies in the range of 0.18 to 0.49 eV. The current-voltage characteristics, frequency dependence of conductivities of these composites have been determined. The frequency dependence of ac conductivity of these composites showed contribution from grain, grain boundary and electrode as a function of charge-transfer content. At low charge-transfer content, all the three contributions were present but at high content, only grain contribution was observed.