Charge trapping and conduction in pure and iodine-doped biaxially-oriented polypropylene

Study of charge trapping and conduction in pure and iodine doped biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) is presented. Structural and chemical modifications induced by iodine were investigated using X-ray, optical and infrared methods. Optical spectra of doped BOPP show absorption at 290 nm from charge transfer complexes. X-ray examination revealed a decrease in crystallinity and crystallite size after doping. The effect of iodine on charge trapping was determined by thermally stimulated current technique. Deep traps (120°C peak) at crystalline-amorphous interfaces are destroyed by iodine, which provides new traps (68°C peak) with activation energy 0.9 eV. Pressure dependence of conductivity indicates ionic conduction in pure samples and electronic conduction in doped samples. Steady state currents in 0.5%wt iodine doped BOPP were measured for fields 1 to 5×10⁵ V cm^-1 and at elevated temperatures 22 to 50°C. Iodine enhances conductivity by ~700× in pure BOPP and the steady state conductivity shows a good fit of the 3-D Poole-Frenkel theory to the experiment. It is proposed that trapped electrons (arising due to donor-acceptor action) thermally released through PF lowering, predominantly contribute to the conduction