DC Electrical Conductivity of Polymercaptobenzothiazole Disulfide Copper Complex

Polymercaptobenzothiazole disulfide-copper complex PMBTS-Cu has been synthesized by reacting 2-mercaptobenzothiazole disulfide with CuCl₂ in absolute ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) under reflux for 24 h. PMBTS-Cu has been characterized by several techniques using electronic spectra, elemental analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, and its solubility has been investigated. DC electrical conductivity variation with temperature, in the range 300–500 K, after annealing for 24 h at 100°C, and doping with different ratios of I₂, is determined for comparison. Doping was done in two ways: by mixing and chemically. Activation energies were calculated and the results were interpreted using the band energy model. DC electrical conductivity of I₂doped PMBTS-Cu complex increased with increasing temperature due to the variation of the carrier concentration with temperature as in the case of semiconductors. PMBTS-Cu complex has a copper ion in its backbone and copper salt is known to be a good dopant. Thus, these materials are doped internally, so the doped polymer-Cu complex are only one or two orders of magnitude higher in DC electrical conductivity than the annealed state. However, the energy gap is very small, which suggests suitability in applications like photovoltaic cells.