Electrical conduction mechanisms of thermally evaporated 5,10,15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H, 23H-porphine iron (III) chloride thin films

•Au/FeTPPCl/ITO device show characteristics of typical Schottky-barrier devices.•The rectifying behavior of the device is explained using thermionic emission theory.•DC of FeTPPCl films shows an activated process having three conduction mechanisms.

The J–V characteristics of the Au/5,10,15, 20-tetraphenyl-21H, 23H-porphine iron (III) chloride (FeTPPCl)/ITO device exhibits rectifying behavior in the dark which can be explained due to the formation of Schottky barrier at ITO/FeTPPCl junction and the typical junction parameters were estimated in temperatures from 302 to 368 K. The temperature dependence of DC electrical conductivity showed that FeTPPCl films behave as semiconducting materials. These results indicate that the DC electrical conduction is through an activated process having three conduction mechanisms in the investigated range of temperatures. A variable range hopping model, a polaron model and band to band transitions have been used to explain the conduction mechanisms for FeTPPCl films.