Charge transport across the metal–polymer film boundary

Abstract

Thin polyaniline films were fabricated by thermal vacuum evaporation from a Knudsen effusion cell. The conducting properties of films synthesized under different evaporation conditions were studied. The enhancement of the emission capacity of a wolfram tip coated with a polyaniline film of a nanometer thickness was demonstrated experimentally. A model of the discovered effect was proposed. The obtained Fowler–Nordheim current–voltage characteristics were used to estimate the change in the electronic work function occurring when a thin film is deposited on the tip surface. The effective temperature of electrons emitted from the polyaniline film was determined based on the results of analysis of energy distributions, and the specific features of charge transport in the metal–polyaniline–vacuum system were examined. A model of energy bands of the metal–polymer film contact was also constructed.