Freezing-in orientational disorder induces crossover from thermally-activated to temperature-independent transport in organic semiconductors.

Goetz, K P; Fonari, A; Vermeulen, D; Hu, P; Jiang, H; Diemer, P J; Ward, J W; Payne, M E et al. · Nat Commun · 2014

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

The crystalline structure of organic materials dictates their physical properties, but while significant research effort is geared towards understanding structure-property relationships in such materials, the details remain unclear. Many organic crystals exhibit transitions in their electrical properties as a function of temperature. One example is the 1:1 charge-transfer complex trans--stilbene-2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane. Here we show that the mobility and resistivity of this material undergo a transition from being thermally activated at temperatures above 235 K to being temperature independent at low temperatures. On the basis of our experimental and theoretical results, we attribute this behaviour to the presence of a glass-like transition and the accompanied freezing-in of orientational disorder of the stilbene molecule.