Preparation and electrical studies on pure and oxygen plasma treated polyvinyl alcohol films

In the present work, pure polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film was prepared by solution-casting method. The smooth and uniform surface of pure PVA films was treated by oxygen plasma with a power of 30 W and by varying time. The structural and electrical properties of plasma treated and untreated PVA films were studied by XRD, FTIR and electrochemical impedance analysis respectively. X-ray studies revealed that all the pure and oxygen plasma treated PVA films are semi crystalline nature. The functional groups of pure and oxygen plasma treated PVA films were recorded using FTIR analysis. The impedance of all the pure and oxygen plasma treated PVA films were measured in the frequency range 1 Hz to 100 kHz at ambient to 110 °C temperature. The conductivity of pure PVA film exhibited the highest conductivity when compared to oxygen plasma treated PVA films. The activation energy of all the samples was determined by plotting the graph between ln(σ) and 1/T and is found to be nearly 0.5 eV. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of pure and oxygen plasma treated PVA films were determined. The results are discussed.