Migration volume for polaron dielectric relaxation in disordered materials

A theoretical study of the influence of pressure on the dielectric relaxation related with polaron tunneling and phonon-assisted hopping in disordered solids is developed. The sign and absolute value of the migration volume, which is obtained by employing the present formulation, evidence the nature of the relaxation. As a paradigm, positive and negative values of migration volume are evaluated by analyzing recently published dielectric loss measurements under pressure in semiconducting polypyrrole. A straightforward relation between the value of the migration volume and the nature of short-range polaron flow and the size of polaron distortion is revealed.