a.c. conductance study of polycrystal C₆₀

The a.c. (1 < f < 50 kHz) conductance of a C60polycrystal (grain size 30 nm) has been studied from 100 to 350 K. Below 150 K, the a.c. conductance is nearly proportional to the temperature and frequency. This is proposed to be due to the hopping of localized states around the Fermi level. Above 200 K, the a.c. conductance exhibits a rapid increase with temperature, and shows a thermally activated behaviour with an activation energy of 0.389 eV below a certain temperature and 0.104 eV above it. A frequency dependent conductance at a fixed temperature is also obtained with a power law σ ∼ ωs(s ≈ 0.8). For a sample of normal grain size, we have measured a peak near 250 K and a much smaller conductance. These results indicate that the defective nature of our sample (small grain size, disorder or impurities) plays an important role for the transport properties. The existence of nanocrystals in the sample may give rise to localized states and improve its a.c. conductance. The two activation energies can be attributed to the coexistence of the crystalline and amorphous phases of C60.