Resistivity and electric-field poling behaviors of DNA-based polymers compared to selected non-DNA polymers

摘要

Resistivity studies were carried out on DNA-based polymer films and selected traditional polymer films, including PMMA and APC. The films were spin coated on glass slides configured for guarded electrode measurements of resistance. The measurements used the alternating polarity method to determine the applied-voltage-dependent current independent of charging and background currents. The data for the temperature dependence of all the polymers were fitted to a common Arrhenius-type expression plus a constant. The poling studies described various dependencies of the measured electro-optic coefficient on how the heating and electric field are applied to the films. The severe impact of poling DNA-based films with vacuum-deposited gold electrodes and the persistent problem of electrode burning and failure presumably due to the high electric fields at the electrode edges are described. How these problems were managed is discussed. The presence of an emf following poling of the DNA-based films is described.