On the characterization of conduction mechanisms in organic solids by electrical measurements

The electrical conductivities of organic polymeric systems have been the subject of considerable effort, but it has not been possible to correlate quantitatively the observations with chemical and/or physical structures. This report will treat the two main factors controlling the conductivity, carrier(s) generation and mobility, and will emphasize their relative importance in hypothesized mechanisms for organic conductors and insulators. Techniques for measuring this conduction will be discussed and it will be shown that seldom does the measurement reflect a "true" bulk conductivity. The lack of physically credible data has minimized progress on the understanding of conduction in organic systems. The application of more reliable experimental methods is beginning to generate data which will prove useful for mechanistic description of electrical conduction in organic solids.