Junction properties of metal/polypyrrole Schottky barriers

Schottky barriers of the type Au/polypyrrole/Al (or In) were made in sandwich configuration. The conductivity of polypyrrole was tuned to be on the order of 10−3 ohm−1 cm−1 by its electrodeposition from a novel ambient temperature ternary eutectic melt consisting of acetamide, urea, and ammonium nitrate. The rectification characteristics were obtained from the current–voltage and capacitance–voltage measurements at room temperature. The analysis of data using thermionic emission theory gave improved values for the junction parameters of ideality factor, reverse saturation current, rectification ratio, and barrier potential when compared to the previously reported values for this polymer. Between Al and In metals used for the junction formation, the diode formed with Al metal is found to show better performance. The energy gap and work function of polypyrrole were also estimated. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 2127–2135, 2001