The complex permittivity of PEDOT:PSS

High permittivity materials are required for efficient organic photovoltaic devices, and the addition of the conjugated polymer composite poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophen) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) to dielectric polymers has been shown to significantly heighten their permittivity. The permittivity of PEDOT:PSS at the optical and microwave frequencies has been investigated, but PEDOT:PSS layers are mainly used for low-frequency device applications, where accurate dielectric property measurements are hindered by their high electrical conductivity and the problems arising from the metal-polymer interfaces. Here, we determine the complex relative permittivity (εr*=εr'-jεr″) of PEDOT:PSS layers perpendicular to the layer plane in the 10-2-106 Hz range by combining data from the reactive energy estimations and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and discover that: εr' at <1 Hz is ultra-high (∼106) decreasing with frequency to ∼5 at 106 Hz; the experimental data fit the Cole-Cole dielectric relaxation model by considering multiple relaxation mechanisms; PEDOT:PSS polarizes nonlinearly and εr' increases with the intensity of the applied external field; low frequency εr' increases with both thickness and temperature of the layer, opposite trend of temperature-dependence prevails at >103 Hz; the dielectric properties of PEDOT:PSS are highly anisotropic and the in-plane εr' at 1.0 kHz is three orders of magnitude higher than the vertical εr'; and that the εr'' decreases proportional to the reciprocal of frequency (1/f). The latter finding provides an explanation for the ubiquitous pink noise accompanying signals transmitted through organic conductor links. The described methodology can be adopted for investigations on other conjugated polymers.

Ion-Conducting Flexible Thin Films of Composites from Poly(ethylene oxide) and Nematic Liquid Crystals E8-Characterization by Impedance and Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy

Complex electrical impedance and dielectric spectroscopy were applied to study the dielectric relaxations and their thermal behavior in ion-conducting composites/complexes from polymer poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and E8 nematic liquid crystals (LCs), at the compositional ratio PEO:E8 = 70:30 wt%. Flexible thin films of PEO/E8 with a thickness of 150 μm were inspected, as well as such films from Na+ ion-conducting electrolyte PEO/E8/NaIO4 with the same PEO:E8 compositional ratio, but additionally containing 10 wt.% from the salt sodium metaperiodate (NaIO4) as a dopant of Na+ ions. The molecular dynamics, namely the dielectric relaxation of PEO/E8 and PEO/E8/NaIO4, were characterized through analyses of complex impedance and dielectric spectra measured in the frequency range of 1 Hz-1 MHz, under variation of temperature from below to above the glass-transition temperature of these composites. The relaxation and polarization of dipole formations in PEO/E8 and PEO/E8/NaIO4 were evidenced and compared in terms of both electrical impedance and dielectric response depending on temperature. The results obtained for molecular organization, molecular relaxation dynamics, and electric polarization in the studied ion-conducting polymer/LC composites/complexes can be helpful in the optimization of their structure and performance, and are attractive for applications in flexible organic electronics, energy storage devices, and mechatronics.

Influence of thermal treatment on the properties and intermolecular interactions of epoxidized natural rubber-salt systems

The influence of thermal treatment on the thermal stability, thermal properties, dielectric properties and intermolecular interaction of binary epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)-salt systems, which may be a candidate for solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) was investigated. Solubility of salt in ENR enhances, which may be due to the disruption of the lightly-crosslinked microgel under heat treatment. The increase in the ionic conductivities of the thermally treated ENR SPEs at constant salt content is correlated to the higher glass transition temperatures, development of percolation network and higher extent of intermolecular interactions between ENR and charged entities in this study.