Thermoelectrets from Poly(acrylonitrile) Thin Films: A Trapped Charge Stability Study

Abstract

Thermoelectrets of poly(acrylonitrile) have been prepared for various electric field polarization strengths. The thermally stimulated discharge current technique has been used to study the remanent charge (dipolar and/or trapped charge) stability. The measurements were carried out in a vacuum. Two overlapping peaks and a significant increase of the current at high temperature have been observed. The first peak is centered around 372 K and the second one is centered around the polarization temperature. When the polarizing field increases from 0.47 to 1.2 MV m-1 the apparent activation energy varies from 1.08 to 1.40 eV, revealing a weak polarization field strength dependence, while the relaxation time at infinite temperature τ0 decreases from 2.05 x10 –15 to 1.05 x 10-18 s. The relaxation time at 300 K increases from 3.48 x 106 to 1.7 x 109 s indicating that the trapped electric charge may be stable at room temperature for the given polarization conditions.