Charge transport mechanism and trap origin in methyl methacrylate copolymer with thioxanthenone side groups

The transverse charge transport mechanism in a specially synthesized novel methyl methacrylate copolymer containing 2 % electron -accepting 9H-thioxanthene-9-one side groups (poly(MMA-co-ThS)) has been studied experimentally and theoretically. These side groups are shown to be deep electron traps. The charge transport in poly(MMA-co-ThS) is governed by the model of phonon -assisted tunneling between traps. The optical ionization trap energy (Wopt = 1.8 eV), independently determined by a reduction spectroelectrochemical method, confirms the validity of the phonon -assisted tunneling model used to describe charge transport in organic dielectrics with high content of electron traps.