Conductivity and Field Effect Transistor of La2@C80 Metallofullerene

Abstract

We first demonstrate a field-effect-transistor operation of dimetallofullerene La₂@C₈₀ with the icosahedral cage symmetry. The thin-film device showed an n-type behavior with a mobility of 1.1 × 10^-4 cm²/V s at room temperature under high vacuum. Taking the nature of LUMO into account, the n-type behavior indicates an occurrence of carrier conduction through encapsulated La ions. The low mobility, suggesting an intermolecular hopping mechanism, is ascribed to the intrinsic and extrinsic reasons, which are discussed in the text.