Material Synthesis and Physical Chemistry

Dr. George Mousdis, Research Director

Until recently it was believed that electrical conductivity and metallic behavior in general was a property exclusive of inorganic materials and especially of metals. However, during the second half of the 20th century, a number of organic conducting materials were synthesized. Most of them are based on tetrathiafulvalenes (TTF's) and metal 1,2 dithiolenes (M 1,2-DTs).

Later the experience and the knowledge obtained from these systems were used to prepare new materials for other applications such as photoconducting and photovoltaic devices, sensors, etc.

In our Laboratory we have experience of more than 30 years in the synthesis and study of tetrathiafulvalenes (TTF's) and metal 1,2 dithiolenes (M 1,2-DTs). A large variety of organic conductors has been synthesized through appropriate chemical manipulations. Fine tuning of properties guides the synthesis and leads to hundreds of new materials including some conducting organic and superconducting ones. The study of these materials revealed many new physical phenomena such as Peierls transition, spin density transition, negative magnetoresistance, de Hass-van Alphen oscillations, quantum Hall effect, non-linear optical properties, etc., and contributed to a better understanding of the solid state physics.

Key publications