The Power of Packing: Metallization of an Organic Semiconductor

Aaron Mailman; Alicea A Leitch; Wenjun Yong; Eden Steven; Stephen M Winter; Robert C M Claridge; Abdeljalil Assoud; John S Tse; Serge Desgreniers; Richard A Secco; Richard T Oakley

doi:10.1021/jacs.6b12814

The Power of Packing: Metallization of an Organic Semiconductor

J Am Chem Soc. 2017 Feb 15;139(6):2180-2183. doi: 10.1021/jacs.6b12814. Epub 2017 Jan 31.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
² Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada.
³ Department of Physics, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Saskatchewan , Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada.
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Ottawa , Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.

PMID: 28140576
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b12814

Abstract

Benzoquino-bis-1,2,3-dithiazole 5 is a closed shell, antiaromatic 16π-electron zwitterion with a small HOMO-LUMO gap. Its crystal structure consists of planar ribbon-like molecular arrays packed into offset layers to generate a "brick-wall" motif with strong 2D interlayer electronic interactions. The spread of the valence and conduction bands, coupled with the narrow HOMO-LUMO gap, affords a small band gap semiconductor with σ_RT = 1 × 10^-3 S cm^-1 and E_act = 0.14 eV for transport within the brick-wall arrays. Closure of the band gap to form an all-organic molecular metal with σ_RT > 10¹ S cm^-1 can be achieved by the application of pressure to 8 GPa.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.