HOPPING IN DISORDERED CONDUCTING POLYMERS

This paper addresses some important questions concerning hopping condu ction in doped conducting polymers, i.e., dimensionality, homogeneity, adiabaticity, Coulomb interactions, and multiphonon character. It wil l be shown that electron transport in these materials is due to correl ated hopping between polaronic clusters. We propose a model which desc ribes quantitatively this process. Conductivity and magnetoresistance measurements performed on disordered polyprroles doped with polyelectr olytes are presented in support of these ideas. This model emphasizes the role of the dopant as an attractive potential and as a tunneling b ridge between neighboring chains. The dopant ions are the source of bo th the polaronic clusters stability and of the transverse conduction.