Organic solids: is energy-band theory enough?

Abstract

The study of the electronic properties of organic solids is a major new frontier in solid state physics. On the practical side, organic solids provide electronic and optical materials whose properties can be tailored to suit specific applications. They also pose continuing challenges to fundamental concepts because they afford unique model systems for establishing the bounds of validity for the traditional energy‐band models that have proven so successful in describing the electronic properties of inorganic metals and semiconductors. Their increasing usefulness, their chemical flexibility, and the inability of traditional models to explain their electronic properties makes the study of organic solids a fascinating frontier of solid‐state physics.