Charge Injection and Dielectric Characteristics of Polyethylene Terephthalate Based on Semiconductor Electrodes

Abstract

Employing a novel semiconductor electrode in comparison with the traditional semiconductor electrode made of polyethylene/ethylene-vinyl-acetate copolymer/carbon-black (PE/EVA/CB) composite, characteristic charge carriers are injected into polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a polymer dielectric paradigm, which will be captured by specific deep traps of electrons and holes. Combined with thermal stimulation current (TSC) experiments and first-principles electronic-state calculations, the injected charges from the novel electrode are characterized, and the corresponding dielectric behavior is elucidated through DC conductance, electrical breakdown and dielectric spectrum tests. TSC experiments with novel and traditional semiconductor electrodes can distinguish the trapping characteristics between hole and electron traps in polymer dielectrics. The observable discrepancy in space charge-limited conductance and the stable dielectric breakdown strength demonstrate that the electron injection into PET film specimen is restricted by using the novel semiconductor electrode. Attributed to the favorable suppression on the inevitable electron injections from metal electrodes, adopting novel i-electrode can avoid the evident abatement of dipole orientation polarization caused by space charge clamp, but will engender the accessional high-frequency dielectric loss from dielectric relaxations of interface charges at i-electrodes.