THE ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF CELLULOSE HYPHAN(R) AND ITS COMPLEXES

The electrical conductivity, sigma, of cellulose HYPHAN(R) and its com plexes with Cr3+, Mn2+, Mo5+ or Hg2+ was measured from room temperatur e to 510 degrees C. The activation energy, Delta E, of the samples was calculated from log sigma against 1/T curves. The results show that t he electrical conductivity increases by temperature with two maximum p eaks. The first peak is attributed to the moisture content, while the second one is attributed to the thermal degradation of the cellulose c hain. The values of the activation energy indicate that the samples ch ange from low semiconductor to high semiconductor property with heatin g.