NONLINEAR CONDUCTIVITY SPECTRA OF TETRAETHYLENE OXIDE ORGANOSILOXANE COPOLYMERS

We measured the frequency dependence of linear to third-order nonlinea r complex conductivities in tetraethy lene oxide-organosiloxane copoly mers. A characteristic conduction relaxation phenomenon was observed i n the spectra, which suggested the existence of different ion conducti on mechanisms between the high-and low-frequency regions. We also foun d that the ratio of linear to nonlinear conductivities was closely rel ated to the elementary process of ionic transport. Furthermore, the ra tio obtained from nonlinear measurements allowed the estimation of the important parameters which characterize ionic transport in polymers, such as the hopping distance of ions or the size of a connected cluste r in the site capable of ion hopping, without the need for any additio nal assumptions.