Issue 5, 2018

Pressure-induced Mott-insulator–metal crossover at ambient temperature in an overexpanded fulleride

Abstract

Rb0.5Cs2.5C60 is a member of the family of face-centred-cubic (fcc)–structured alkali fullerides, A3C60 (A = alkali metal) with a highly expanded lattice size. At ambient temperature and pressure, it is a Mott–Jahn–Teller insulator. However, upon cooling it exhibits first a crossover to an anomalous metallic state (Jahn–Teller metal) in the vicinity of 90 K followed next by a transition to a bulk superconductor with a transition temperature, Tc of 29.4 K. Here we study its structural and electronic response to the application of pressure. Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction at ambient temperature shows that the same Mott-insulator–metal electronic state crossover can be induced through pressure application under isothermal conditions, as evidenced by a distinct broad symmetry-preserving compressibility anomaly, which sets in at ∼0.4 GPa and extends to ∼0.75 GPa. Complementary magnetic susceptibility measurements also reveal that the crossover temperature, T′ tunable at ambient pressure through adjusting the dopant ratio to vary the unit cell volume, can be controlled through pressure application and be mapped onto the same global electronic phase diagram. The observed electronic response, as a function of both physical and ‘chemical’ pressure, is thus of the same electronic origin, namely the control of the bandwidth, W via outer wave function overlap of the constituent fulleride ions.

Graphical abstract: Pressure-induced Mott-insulator–metal crossover at ambient temperature in an overexpanded fulleride

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
29 Phe 2018
Accepted
13 Ube 2018
First published
14 Ube 2018

Mater. Chem. Front., 2018,2, 993-998

Pressure-induced Mott-insulator–metal crossover at ambient temperature in an overexpanded fulleride

R. H. Zadik, Y. Takabayashi, R. H. Colman, G. Garbarino and K. Prassides, Mater. Chem. Front., 2018, 2, 993 DOI: 10.1039/C8QM00048D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements