Tuning charge transport across junctions of ferrocene-containing polymer brushes on ITO by controlling the brush thickness and the tether lengths

Abstract This paper describes the electrical characteristics of junctions of ferrocene (Fc)-containing polymer brushes (PBs) grafted on indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom electrodes contacted with eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) top electrodes. We studied the charge transport phenomena across these junctions as a function of the PB thickness as well as the length of the tether ( i.e. , an alkyl chain side linker) between the Fc units and the polymethyl methacrylate backbone. Junctions with PBs with a thickness of 20 nm do rectify. Temperature dependent charge transport measurements revealed that the charge transport mechanism is dominated by space charge limited conduction (SCLC).