Absorption and conduction currents in polymers: a unified model

The complicated time dependence of the current flowing in a polymer in response to a constant electric field is usually attributed to the combined effect of two separate mechanisms, an 'absorption' current due to dipoles and a 'conduction' current due to charges hopping from trap to trap. The authors develop a model of the behaviour of charges trapped on a flexible polymer network, and show that it can give a unified account of the experimentally observed current-time relationship.