Recent development of the thin film solar cells, based on quaternary compounds, has been focused on the Ge contain compounds and their solid solutions. However, for effective utilization of Cu2ZnGeS4, deeper investigations of its transport properties are required. In the present manuscript, we investigate resistivity, ρ (T), magnetoresistance and Hall effect in p-type Cu2ZnGeS4 single crystals in pulsed magnetic fields up to 20 T. The dependence of ρ (T) in zero magnetic field is described by the Mott type of the variable-range hopping (VRH) charge transfer mechanism within a broad temperature interval of ~100–200 K. Magnetoresistance contains the positive and negative components, which are interpreted by the common reasons of doped semiconductors. On the other hand, a joint analysis of the resistivity and magnetoresistance data has yielded series of important electronic parameters and permitted specification of the Cu2ZnGeS4 conductivity mechanisms outside the temperature intervals of the Mott VRH conduction. The Hall coefficient is negative, exhibiting an exponential dependence on temperature, which is quite close to that of ρ(T). This is typical of the Hall effect in the domain of the VRH charge transfer.

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes filled with iron nanoparticles were combined with polystyrene to evaluate interface interactions and nanotube orientation in composite using magnetic susceptibility measurements. Iron-containing species were introduced into MWCNT cavities as the result of catalytic chemical vapor deposition synthesis using ferrocene as a catalyst source. Polystyrene loaded with certain quantity of MWCNTs was uniaxially stretched to provide the nanotube alignment. Magnetic susceptibility measurements performed in three perpendicular directions of magnetic field confirmed the alignment in the stretching direction. The composites showed a large diamagnetic response in a magnetic field perpendicular to the nanotube axis and low response in a parallel field. In a quantitative sense, anisotropy exceeds by more than an order of magnitude the effect expected from intrinsic susceptibility of nanotubes. Apparently, the graphitic nature of the nanotube lattice results in strong non-covalent interactions with uniaxially stretched polymer matrix, and aromatic rings as side groups of polystyrene align parallel to the nanotube surface, contributing to strong diamagnetism. As magnetic susceptibility is a penetrative but non-destructive type of measurement, it can successfully characterize both the alignment of onedimensional or two-dimensional carbon allotropies and the arrangement of the macromolecules around them, contributing to the optimal design and performance of nanocomposites.

We present an original, easy to implement, reliable method of non-destructive testing of the orientation of carbon nanotubes by magnetic moment measurements performed in three perpendicular directions of magnetic field. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polystyrene composites were prepared by stretching and forge-rolling methods with the same nanotube loading. Unusually strong diamagnetic anisotropy in the composites prepared by the stretching method was observed and attributed to an additional diamagnetic response from the polystyrene aromatic rings wrapping the nanotubes. Strong anisotropy of diamagnetic susceptibility of the composites with highly aligned nanotubes correlates with anisotropic electromagnetic response and with improved microwave absorption properties. Both magnetic anisotropy and microwave absorbance is considerably lower in the composites prepared by the forge-rolled method. The magnetic results correlate well with polarized Raman spectroscopy. The research findings contribute to a better understanding of nanotubepolymer interface, alignment mechanisms, and ultimately the optimal design and performance of functional nanotube-aromatic polymer nanocomposites.

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Resistivity, ρ(T), and magnetoresistance (MR) are investigated in the Cu2ZnSnxGe1−xS4 single crystals, obtained by the chemical vapor transport method, between x = 0–0.70, in the temperature range of T ~ 50–300 K in pulsed magnetic field of B up to 20 T. The Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) conductivity is observed within broad temperature intervals, lying inside that of T ~ 80–180 K for different x. The nearest-neighbor hopping conductivity and the charge transfer, connected to activation of holes into the delocalized states of the acceptor band, are identified above and below the Mott VRH conduction domain, respectively. The microscopic electronic parameters, including width of the acceptor band, the localization radius and the density of the localized states at the Fermi level, as well as the acceptor concentration and the critical concentration of the metal-insulator transition, are obtained with the analysis of the ρ(T) and MR data. All the parameters above exhibit extremums near x = 0.13, which are attributable mainly to the transition from the stannite crystal structure at x = 0 to the kesterite-like structure near x = 0.13. The detailed analysis of the activation energy in the low-temperature interval permitted estimations of contributions from different crystal phases of the border compounds into the alloy structure at different compositions.