Potential for exciton condensation in a highly conductive amorphous polymer

• Published in: Physical review materials 2023-04, Vol.7 (4), Article 045001
• Main Authors: Schouten, Anna O., Klevens, Jordan E., Sager-Smith, LeeAnn M., Xie, Jiaze, Anderson, John S., Mazziotti, David A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Materials Science
• ISSN: 2475-9953; 2475-9953
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.045001

An outstanding challenge in synthesis and theory is to develop molecular materials at ambient conditions that exhibit highly efficient energy transfer. Here, in this study, we demonstrate the potential of a recently synthesized, highly conductive amorphous material—a nickel tetrathiafulvalene-tetrathiolate (NiTTFtt) polymer—to become an exciton condensate—a Bose-Einstein condensate of particle-hole pairs, known as excitons, that supports dissipationless flow of excitation energy. While exciton condensates have recently been realized in ordered materials, we show by advanced electronic structure calculations that this highly correlated phenomenon can potentially be realized in molecularly tailored, amorphous materials. In contrast to the Bechgaard salts that support superconductivity at compressed geometries requiring high pressures, we show that the recently synthesized, amorphous NiTTFtt polymer exhibits the computational signature of exciton condensation at experimentally realizable geometries, occurring at ambient pressures. Results suggest that superfluidity in this system and related systems—including van der Waals structures, molecular metals with extended-TTF dithiolate ligands, and Bechgaard salts—may occur via a nontraditional excitonic mechanism tuneable according to system composition, geometry, size, and charge. This study prompts further experimental investigation of the rational design of molecularly scaled exciton condensates with potential applications to efficient transport in technologically relevant materials.