Electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of the tetrathiafulvalene /TTF/ pseudohalides, /TTF/12/SCN/7 and /TTF/12/SeCN/7

The electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of charge-transfer salts containing tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and the pseudohalides, thiocyanate (SCN) and selenocyanate (SeCN), have been investigated. These salts are quasi-one-dimensional compounds containing cation radicals only, in contrast to a cation-radical-anion-radical system, such as tetrathiafulvalene tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF) (TCNQ). Measurements of electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power, and optical reflectivity of single crystals of the nonstoichiometric salts (TTF)12(SCN)7 and (TTF)12(SeCN)7 show metal-like characteristics above 200 K (high-temperature region). The conductivities at room temperature are approximately 750 mho/cm comparable to those found in (TTF) (TCNQ), and increase with decreasing temperature down to approximately 200 K. The thermoelectric power at room temperature is small and positive (approximately 9 microvolts/deg K), and decreases linearly with decreasing temperature in this region (as expected for metal-like hole conduction along the TTF chains). The ESR intensity, however, decreases with decreasing temperature above 200 K. At 170 K a metal-nonmetal transition occurs, and the transport and magnetic properties below this temperature are characteristic of a semiconducting state.