Spontaneous polarization of vapor-deposited 1-butanol films and its dependence on temperature

Films of 1-butanol were vapor deposited under vacuum conditions at cryogenic temperatures on a polycrystalline platinum foil. Kelvin probe measurements showed the generation of a large negative voltage on the vacuum side of the film relative to its back side in contact with the platinum foil. Voltages across vapor deposited films, which are known to require molecules with an electric dipole moment, were confirmed to be proportional to the amount of gas deposited at a given temperature. Voltages of several hundreds of volts were recorded for films that were a few thousand monolayers thick. As deposition temperature was reduced from 120 K, the film voltage was found to increase almost linearly from 0 V until a little below 38 K, where the trend was reversed. Ramping up the sample temperature after deposition at 15 K/min exhibited an initial increase in absolute magnitude and then a gradual elimination of the voltage as the temperature of 120 K was reached. Both the initial increase and the subsequent decrease were found to be irreversible and indicate structural changes in the amorphous film. The elimination of the film voltage is associated with small rearrangements of the deposited molecules which are facilitated by the gradual increase of the temperature and the cumulative electric field of the surrounding molecules.