On the Electron Transport in Conducting Polymer Nanofibers

Abstract

Here, the author studies the effects of stochastic nuclear motions on the electron transport in doped polymer fibers assuming the conducting state of the material. The author treats conducting polymers as granular metals and applies the quantum theory of conduction in mesoscopic systems to describe the electron transport between metalliclike granules. To analyze the effects of nuclear motions, the author mimics them by a phonon bath and includes electron-phonon interactions in consideration. The results show that the phonon bath plays a crucial part in the intergrain electron transport at moderately low and room temperatures, suppressing the original intermediate state for the resonance electron tunneling and producing new states which support the electron transport. Also, the temperature dependence of the magnitudes of the peaks in the electron transmission corresponding to these new states is analyzed.