Electrical conduction property of molecular magnetic material-{N(n-C4H9)4[Fe(II)Fe(III)(C2O4)3]}∞: Before and after thermal degradation

Electrical conduction properties of a molecular magnetic system {(cation)[Fe(II)Fe(III)(C2O4)3]}∞ with three different cations-N(n-C4H9)4+, N(n-C3H7)4+ and As(C6H5)4+ have been studied to understand the nature of electrical conduction in this molecular system as well as to explore any effect of the cation size on it. All the compounds are observed to be semiconducting in nature and their room temperature conductivity is of 10−15 S cm−1 order. Results indicate that the electrical conductivity as well as the activation energy of this system depends on the size of the cations used. Moreover, semiconducting iron oxide of hematite nature was obtained through the thermal degradation of {N(n-C4H9)4[Fe(II)Fe(III)(C2O4)3]}∞. The degraded material consisted of rod-like crystals of average length and diameter 350 and 140 nm, respectively.