Electrical conduction of thin 1,4-cis-polybutadiene films

This work contains results on the internal structure and dc conduction of 1,4-cispolybutadiene. X-ray and thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD) studies have been a source of information on phase transitions in the investigated material. The conduction measurements have been performed on thin films of thickness varying from 1 to 10 /spl mu/m. Gold and aluminum have been applied as electrodes. The temperature range changed from 13 to 325 K. The investigated material was 1,4-cis polybutadiene of the Philips Petroleum Co, It contained 96% cis and 4% of the trans form of polybutadiene. It was observed that the internal structure of the polymer had a strong influence on its electrical properties. Electric conduction resulted from non-activated or thermally activated hopping with some contribution of the Poole-Frenkel effect. Electrode contact phenomena, such as thermionic emission and field emission (tunneling), are very likely responsible for charge carrier injection into the investigated material. The obtained activation energies range from 0.002 to N 0.3 eV.