Electrical properties of a calix[4]acid/amine Langmuir–Blodgett thin film

In this work the DC and AC characteristics for metal-LB film-metal structures deposited by a standard Langmuir–Blodgett film deposition technique are investigated. The conduction mechanism has been studied for a thin film structure in which a calix[4]arene substituted with carboxylic acid groups has been deposited alternately with a calix[4]arene molecule substituted with amine groups. This LB film structure shows a typical insulating behaviour for low voltage values and the Schottky effect becomes dominant when the voltage increases. The conductivity at low voltage values was found to be 1.34 × 10−13 S cm−1. The height of the potential barrier was determined to be 1.65 eV for this alternate layer LB film system.