Photoelectric effects in poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polyethylene

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Abstract
Photocurrents induced by ultraviolet illumination of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (Mylar) and polyethylene specimens supplied with aluminum electrodes in a sandwich configuration have been studied in the wavelength range 380–180 nm. A description is given of the precautions taken to ensure that artefacts such as photoelectric emission external to the specimen do not influence the measurements. In both materials, a fast and a slow transient are present. Measurements on polyethylene show that the magnitude of the response is linearly dependent on the light intensity and is essentially thickness independent. This behavior leads to difficulties in interpretation in terms of known conduction processes. In Mylar it is shown that hole injection from the positive electrode into the polymer is responsible for the observed currents, and evidence to associate a similar process with the effects in polyethylene is presented.