Electrode and interfacial polarization in broadband dielectric spectroscopy measurements

The accumulation of charge carriers at the sample-electrode interface in broadband dielectric spectroscopy results in large electrode polarization masking the frequency response of the sample. Additionally, heterogeneous samples exhibit frequency-dependent dielectric and conductive properties that differ from those of the constituent components, yielding so-called Maxwell–Wagner relaxation. We present here an experimental approach to extract true sample dielectric properties from the total frequency response of the electrode–sample assembly. A test case (i.e., ice) is shown to prove the correctness of the proposed method. Results also confirm that polarization due to blocking electrodes is not negligible even in the MHz frequency range.