Electrical Properties of Organic Solids. I. Kinetics and Mechanism of Conductivity of Metal-Free Phthalocyanine

Abstract

Techniques involving the use of high-intensity, short-duration light pulses have been applied to the study of the kinetics of photoconductivity in films of metal-free phthalocyanine. These experiments, in conjunction with measurements of steady-state photoconductivity, are consistent with the following scheme. The principal route for the formation of charge carriers is via the first excited singlet state, although the lowest triplet state can, to some extent, contribute to charge carrier production. The mobility of the carriers is low and is concentration-dependent, being lower at higher carrier concentration. The decay of the photocurrent is the result of a diffusion-limited bimolecular recombination, with a capture radius of approximately one molecular diameter. The experiments indicate that carriers produced thermally in the dark do not interact with light-produced carriers.