Band transport model for discotic liquid crystals

Abstract

A theoretical model is presented for charge transport in discotic liquid crystals in which a charge is delocalized over more than one lattice site. As such, charge transport is via a banded conduction process in a narrow bandwidth system and takes place over coherent lengths of a few molecules. The coherent lengths are disrupted by the geometrical disorder of the system and are treated as being terminated by quantum tunnel barriers. The transmission probabilities at these barriers have been calculated as a function of the charge carrier energy. Phononic interactions are also considered and the charge carrier scattering rates are calculated for intermolecular and intramolecular vibrations. The results of the calculations have been used to develop a Monte Carlo simulation of the charge transport model. Simulated data are presented and used to discuss the nature of the tunnel barriers required to reproduce experimental data. We find that the model successfully reproduces experimental time of flight data including temperature dependence.