Charge storage and its dynamics in porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film electrets

The outstanding space charge storage stability of porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film electrets is studied by isothermal surface potential decay measurements and open-circuit thermally stimulated discharge (TSD) experiments after corona charging at room and elevated temperatures, or corona charging at RT and then aging at different temperatures. Charge storage properties of porous PTFE, nonporous PTFE (Teflon® PTFE) and nonporous FEP (Teflon® FEP) electrets are compared. The results show that porous PTFE has the best charge storage stability of organic materials for both negative and positive charges, especially at high temperatures. The structure of porous PTFE, investigated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), is important for understanding the electret properties of this material. Charge dynamics, including the influence of environmental humidity and temperature on charge stability and shift of mean charge depth, and the kinetics of detrapped charges for the porous PTFE film electrets were also investigated by means of isothermal surface potential decay measurements and analysis of the TSD current spectra in combination with the heat pulse technique. It is found that from about RT to 200°C slow retrapping plays a dominant role; from about 200°C to 300°C fast retrapping controls the transport.