Electrical conduction in iodine-doped polyethylene

Iodine is known to diffuse through polyethylene, and, because of its high electron affinity, forms donor-acceptor complexes with several organic materials. On this basis, equations are derived predicting the form of the current transients obtained in electrically stressed polyethylene films after the addition of iodine to the electrode solutions. Experiment and theory are found to be in good qualitative agreement. From a curve-fitting process, reasonable values for the diffusion constant of iodine in polyethylene (10 −8 -10 −7 cm 2 s −1 ) and for the number density of possible charge transfer sites (10 12 -10 14 cm −3 ) are derived.