Influence of Ag content of Polyethene Glycol/Silver (PEG/Ag) Nanocomposite Thin Films on AC Conductivity
3rd INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, Milan, Italy, 15 - 17 July 2026, pp.12, (Summary Text)
- Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
- City: Milan
- Country: Italy
- Page Numbers: pp.12
- Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
Polyethene glycol (PEG) nanocomposites with silver (Ag) content ratios of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% were prepared via thermal evaporation of PEG and e-beam evaporation of Ag. The resultant PEG/Ag nanocomposites were investigated using dielectric spectroscopy measurements. The presence of Ag in polymers is known as an antibacterial agent. In this study, we aimed to detect the effect of Ag content in the nanocomposite structure in the aspect of electrical conduction by checking the DC-like region of AC conductivity behaviour, which can be observed at the lowest frequency side of radio frequency (RF) dielectric spectroscopy spectra. This study also aims to investigate the conduction mechanisms and the effect of Ag content on the barrier width between localised sites in polycrystalline or amorphous structures of PEG/AG nanocomposite thin films. For a PEG thin film that does not include Ag atoms, the DC-like conductivity is between 10- 12 and 10-11 S/cm, with an increasing trend with temperature. Moreover, three conduction mechanisms were observed in the investigated frequency interval. These may be the drift motion of partially free charge groups (fragments) produced by polymer chain fragmentation by thermal evaporation at low frequencies and high temperatures. Another mechanism may be the orientational polarisation of oligomers, which is produced by the breaking of the polymer main chain by shifting at lower temperatures and higher frequencies by thermal evaporation. The last mechanism is observed by shifting at the highest frequencies and at nearly all temperatures. When the effect of Ag content is investigated, the DC-like region shifts toward 10-10-10-9 S/cm interval with almost ten times increase for the %40 Agcontaining PEG/Ag thin film. The mid-frequency region vanishes or becomes difficult to detect for Ag-containing thin films. These results may be attributed to the joining of some Ag atoms to semi-free charge groups. Additionally, some Ag atoms may be bonded to oligomers by shifting the polarisation frequencies toward lower frequencies in the investigated frequency region. Moreover, this shifting may be The reason for the increase in DC-like conductivity values is the coincidence of the polarisation regions of drifting semi-free charge groups and orientationally polarized highweighted oligomers.