The electrical conductivity of an "evaporated" film of mesonaphthodianthrene increases when the film is exposed t o oxygen. The increase in conductivity is associated with changes in the semiconductivity activation energies. The activation energy for the oxygen-free anthrene (bulk conduction) is 0.74 ev while that associated with oxygen adsorption (surface conduction) is 0.40 ev. In marked contrast, the conductivity of an evaporated film of mesonaphthodianthrone decreases when exposed t o oxygen. An oxygen-free film of the anthrone has different activation energies in different ternperatlire regions, the activation energies being 0.73 ev and 0.43 ev in the higher and lower temperature regions, respectively. The conduction associated with the lower activation energy decreases when the film is exposed to oxygen.The effect of oxygen on the semiconductivities of mesonaphthodianthrene and mesonaphthodianthrone are compared with the effect of oxygen 011 their electron spin resonance spectra.
INTRODUCTIONThe adsorption of gas inolecules on the surface of metals and sen~iconductors modifies the electrical properties associated with the surface (e.g. work function, contact potential, surface conductance, etc.) especially when the surface reaction involves an electrontransfer mechanism. While in the case of inorganic semiconductors there is a large body of scientific literature dealing with such effects, in the case of organic selniconductors comparatively few papers exist, in spite of the fact that adsorption on organic crystal surfaces call also involve electron-transfer mechanisms. Pick and Wissinan observed that the electrical conductivity of a napthalene single crystal was affected inarkedly by ambient oxygen (1). The influence of ambient oxygen on the photocoilductivity of the anthracene crystal has been studied by many investigators (2, 3, 4). The effect of oxygen on the photocoi~ductivity of phthalocyanine is also ltnown (5).Recently Matsunaga found that a sharp absorption peak appeared in the electron spin resonance spectrum of mesonaphthodiantlirene powder when it was exposed to air (6). This suggests that some ltind of electron transfer is taking place between the hydrocarbon crystal and oxygen molecules adsorbed on the surface. I t seemed, therefore, interesting to investigate the influence of ambient oxygen on the electrical conductivities of thin films formed by evaporation (evaporated films) of these compounds. A brief account of our findings on this subject has been presented in a previous note wherein it was pointed out that ambient oxygen does indeed exert an influence on the electrical conductivities of such filins (7). E X P E R I M E N T A L ~iIesonaphthodianthrene (I) and mesonapl~thodianthrone (11) were both purified by repeated sublimation in a high vacuum. Iminediately after the final sublimation, a small amount of the powder of the sample was sealed in the conductivity apparatus,