Abstract
The electrical conductivities of Ag (I), Ca (II), Sr (II), Cu (II), Zn (II), Cd (II) and Pb (II)alginate complexes in the form of circular discs have been investigated as a function of a wide range of temperatures. At lower temperatures, the Arrhenius plot of In 6 vs 1/T showed that the electrical conductivity for the silver-alginate complex was gradually increased until it reached a maximum and then began to decrease with temperature, whereas no change in the electrical conductivity was observed with respect to the divalent metal-alginate complexes. Again, at higher temperatures, 6 values increased continuously with temperature for both monoand divalent metal-alginate complexes. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that all these alginate complexes are amorphous in nature. IR absorption spectra indicated the presence of chelated metal ions in the chains of alginate macromolecules. The activation energies have been calculated and tentative conduction mechanisms in good agreement with experimental results.