Abstract
Metallic conduction generally requires high carrier concentration and wide bandwidth derived from strong orbital interaction between atoms or molecules. These requisites are especially important in organic compounds because a molecule is fundamentally an insulator; only multi-component salts with strong intermolecular interaction - namely, only charge transfer complexes and conducting polymers - have demonstrated intrinsic metallic behaviour. Herein we report a single-component electroactive molecule, zwitterionic tetrathiafulvalene(TTF)-extended dicarboxylate radical (TED), exhibiting metallic conduction even at low temperatures. TED exhibits d.c. conductivities of 530 S cm-1 at 300 K and 1,000 S cm-1 at 50 K with copper-like electronic properties. Spectroscopic and theoretical investigations of the carrier-generation mechanism and the electronic states of this single molecular species reveal a unique electronic structure with a spin-density gradient in the extended TTF moieties that becomes, in itself, a metallic state.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 109-114 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nature Materials |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 Jan 1 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering