Low Temperature Electrical Transport Studies of the Conducting Polymer Versicon™

Abstract

Thermal analysis and low temperature D.C. electrical transport measurements of the conducting polymer Versicon™ were carried out between 20 K and 300 K. The material was found to be stable up to 498 K (225°C), with a glass transition at 210 K (-63°C), and a crystalline transition at 436 K (163°C). The electrical resistivity data best fitted the Fluctuation Induced Tunneling (FIT) model, suggesting that at low temperatures, the electron transport is by tunneling through thermally modulated barriers. The high temperature data best fitted the thermally activated hopping model, with an activation energy of 0.015 eV, suggesting that the thermally activated hopping may be a parallel transport process to fluctuation induced tunneling, becoming dominant at higher temperatures. From the FIT model the inter-particle distance was estimated to be 12 Å. The electrical transport results were also consistent with the assertion that Versicon™ forms spherical aggregates, creating conducting pathways even in an insulating matrix.