Peierls Instability and Charge-Density-Wave Transport in Fluoranthene and Perylene Radical Cation Salts

Abstract

Fluoranthene and perylene radical cation salts are quasi-one-dimensional conductors, which show a Peierls transition to a charge-density-wave ground state. Radical cation salts with different stoichiometries composed of the aromatic donor molecules fluoranthene (Fa = C16H10) or perylene (Per = C20H12) and the counterion X -= PF fi were investigated. We find that the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity and the properties in the charge-density-wave ground state strongly depend on the composition of the crystals. When fluoranthene is replaced by perylene, the Peierls transition is shifted from 180 K to 120 K and the ground state energy gap decreases from values of 120-180 meV to 60-80 meV. In the charge-density-wave ground state the threshold field for nonlinear conductivity varies between 0.1 and 1 V/cm for different systems. Our results indicate that disorder, three-dimensional coupling and commensurability effects play an important role for the transport properties of these systems.