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On the electron transport in conducting polymer nanofibers

Recent advances in synthesis and electrical characterization of nanofibers and nanotubes made out of various conjugated polymers attract attention of the research community to studies of transport properties of these materials. In this work we present a theoretical analysis of electron transport in polymer nanofibers assuming them to be in conducting state. We treat a conducting polymer as a network of metallic-like grains embedded in poorly conducting environment, which consists of randomly distributed polymeric chains. We analyze the contribution from intergrain electron resonance tunneling via intermediate states localized on the polymeric chains between the grains. Correspondingly, we apply the quantum theory of conduction in mesoscopic systems to analyze this transport mechanism. We show that the contribution of resonance electron tunneling to the intergrain electron transport may be predominating, as follows from experiments on the electrical characterization of single polyaniline nanofibers. We study the effect of temperature on the transport characteristics. We represent the thermal environment as a phonon bath coupled to the intermediate state, which provides electron tunneling between the metallic-like grains. Using the Buttiker model within the scattering matrix formalism combined with the nonequilibrium Green's functions technique, we show that temperature dependencies of both current and conductance associated with the intergrain electron tunneling, differ from those typical for other conduction mechanisms in conducting polymers. Also, we demonstrate that under certain conditions the phonon bath may cause suppression of the original intermediate state accompanied by emergence of new states for electron tunneling. The temperature dependencies of the magnitudes of the peaks in the transmission corresponding to these new states are analyzed.