Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars process

The time dependence of the dielectric properties of a material (expressed by e or CT ) under study can have different molecular origins. Resonance phenomena are due to atomic or molecular vibrations and can be analyzed by optical spectroscopy. The discussion of these processes is out of the scope of this chapter. Relaxation phenomena are related to molecular fluctuations of dipoles due to molecules or parts of them in a potential landscape. Moreover, drift motion of mobile charge carriers (electrons, ions, or charged defects) causes conductive contributions to the dielectric response. Moreover, the blocking of carriers at internal and external interfaces introduces further time-dependent processes which are known as Maxwell/Wagner/Sillars (Wagner 1914 Sillars 1937) or electrode polarization (see, for instance, Serghei et al. 2009). 

The time dependence of the dielectric response can be due to different processes like the fluctuations of dipoles (relaxation processes), the drift motion of charge carriers (conduction processes), and the blocking of charge carriers at interfaces (Maxwell/Wagner/Sillars polarization). In the following subchapters these effects will be discussed from a theoretical point of view. 

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