Electrical DC conduction mechanism in some newly synthesized nylon 6/12 copolymers

The synthesis and the study of DC electrical transport properties (electrical conductivity, σ, and Seebeck coefficient, S) as a function of temperature of some recently synthesized nylon 6/12 copolymers with 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 wt % laurolactam (LL), respectively, are reported. Nylons were obtained by rotational molding via the anionic activated copolymerization of ε‐caprolactam and LL. As evidenced by XRD analyses, they are semicrystalline. The temperature dependences of σ and S are typical for polycrystalline semiconducting (p‐type) materials. The activation energy of electrical conduction lay in the range 0.79–1.22 eV, while the ratio of charge carrier mobilities ranged between 0.53 and 0.77. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 794–799, 2007