Polymerization of thiophene on ferric chloride doped polyvinyl chloride matrix and its ac conductivity

A thin layer of poly thiophene (PT) was developed on ferric chloride doped polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film. PVC was doped with 2.0, 50.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 15.0 % ferric chloride in THF medium and films of 2.0 x 10-3 cm thickness were prepared by slow evaporation of the solvent. These transparent films were then exposed to thiophene vapours to develop a layer of poly thiophene on PVC matrix. The interaction of ferric chloride with PVC and thiophene has been investigated by IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The PVC FeCl/sub 3/-PT films are semiconductor material having electrical conductivity 1.25 x 10-7 ohm -1 cm-1. The minimum hoping distance and binding energy are 7.7 nm and 2.0 eV respectively for 10% FeCl/sub 3/-PVC-PT film. (author)