Stable Metallic State of a Neutral-Radical Single-Component Conductor at Ambient Pressure

Yann Le Gal (1) , Thierry Roisnel (1) , Pascale Auban-Senzier (2) , Nathalie Bellec (1) , Jorge Íñiguez (3) , Enric Canadell (4) , Dominique Lorcy (1)

1 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes
2 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
3 LIST - Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
4 UAB - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Molecular metals have been essentially obtained with tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-based precursors, either with multicomponent ionic materials or, in a few instances, with single-component systems. In that respect, gold bis(dithiolene) complexes, in their neutral radical state, provide a prototype platform toward such single-component conductors. Herein we report the first single-component molecular metal under ambient pressure derived from such Au complexes without any TTF backbone. This complex exhibits a conductivity of 750 S·cm at 300 K up to 3800 S·cm at 4 K. First-principles electronic structure calculations show that the striking stability of the metallic state finds its origin in sizable internal electron transfer from the SOMO-1 to the SOMO of the complex as well as in substantial interstack and interlayer interactions.

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Coordination chemistry

Yann Le Gal, Thierry Roisnel, Pascale Auban-Senzier, Nathalie Bellec, Jorge Íñiguez, et al.. Stable Metallic State of a Neutral-Radical Single-Component Conductor at Ambient Pressure. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2018, 140 (22), pp.6998-7004. ⟨10.1021/jacs.8b03714⟩. ⟨hal-01807877⟩