Carboxymethyl cellulose–NH4NO3 solid biopolymer electrolyte films were prepared by solution casting technique. Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) with 5–50 wt.% were dissolved in disparate carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solution, respectively. The electrical properties and conduction mechanism of electrolyte films have been revealed by employing electrical impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 50 Hz to 1 MHz within the temperature range of 303 K to 353 K. The ionic conductivity was observed to be influenced by the NH4NO3 concentration. The conductivity–temperature relationship is Arrhenius. From dielectric loss variation with frequency, the power law exponent was obtained. The temperature dependence of the power law exponent for CMC– NH4NO3 system can be represented by the quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) model.

Ginger has a high moisture content, which makes it highly susceptible to spoilage. Therefore, the shelf life can be extended through drying. In the drying process, osmotic dehydration is applied as pre-treatment due to its simple operation and energy-saving process for removing moisture from food. However, large solute gain during the osmotic dehydration has become the major challenge of this process as it has a negative impact on the final product. The edible coating is the key step to circumventing this issue. Alginate is a potential candidate for the coating material to enhance the mass transfer kinetics of the osmotic dehydration process. This study investigated the surface modification of ginger slices caused by the cross-linker calcium chloride and plasticizer glycerol on alginate coating using a Scanning Electron Microscope. Furthermore, the kinetics of water loss and solute gain were evaluated and modelling aspects were conducted. It was observed that the surface roughness of ginger coated with a combination of alginate, glycerol and calcium ions has reduced. This facilitated the mass transfer process, which was observed to have a high water loss and a lower solute gain. The Peleg model presented the best fitting model of mass transfer kinetics during osmotic dehydration of ginger slices. From this work, it can be deduced that alginate-based coating can be a promising pre-treatment step in the osmotic dehydration process.

A new Nickel(II) complex, NiL2, was prepared in this study by reacting 4-(diphenylamino)benzaldehyde-4-(ethyl)thiosemicarbazone and nickel(II) acetate. The resulting NiL2 complex was thoroughly characterized by a variety of methods, such as elemental analysis, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility, and molar conductivity measurements. The material was also analyzed using a single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) to identify its structural characteristics. FTIR confirmed that the ligand was bound to Ni(II) in a mononegative bidentate fashion through the azomethine (N=C) and thione sulfur (C=S) donor atoms. The UV-Vis spectrum and the measured magnetic moment are consistent with a diamagnetic species (μeff ≈ 0 BM), indicating a square planar geometry, which was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic data. The structural analysis showed a distorted square planar geometry with bond angle deviations up to 6°. The complex crystallized in the triclinic P-1 space group and adopted the thione tautomeric form. Moreover, NiL2 was used as a dopant in solid biopolymer electrolyte (SBE) films prepared by the solution-casting technique using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as the polymer host, polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a plasticizing agent, and isophthalic acid (IA) as the protonator. The highest ionic conductivity of 4.60 × 10-7 S cm-1 at 353 K was achieved with CMC (1 g) + PEG (0.1 mL) + NiL2 (15 wt%) + IA (20 wt%) of the SBE composition. In addition, the conductivity follows the Arrhenius behavior with an activation energy (Ea) of 0.144 eV, indicating that it requires low thermal energy to activate the charge carrier.