Absence of metallicity in K-doped picene: Importance of electronic correlations

Abstract

Potassium-doped picene (K${}_x$picene) has recently been reported to be a superconductor at $x=3$ with critical temperatures up to 18 K. Here we study the electronic structure of K-doped picene films by photoelectron spectroscopy and {\it ab initio} density functional theory combined with dynamical mean-field theory (DFT+DMFT). Experimentally we observe that, except for spurious spectral weight due to the lack of a homogeneous chemical potential at low K-concentrations ($x\approx 1$), the spectra always display a finite energy gap. This result is supported by our DFT+DMFT calculations which provide clear evidence that K${}_x$picene is a Mott insulator for integer doping concentrations $x=1$, 2, and 3. We discuss various scenarios to understand the discrepancies with previous reports of superconductivity and metallic behavior.

6 pages, 3 figures, suplemental material (4 pages, 3 figures)

References in corpus (10)

• Quantum frustration in organic Mott insulators: from spin liquids to unconventional superconductors
• High-energy photoemission on Fe3O4: Small polaron physics and the Verwey transition
• Electronic Correlation effects in superconducting picene from ab-initio calculations
• Vibrational spectrum and electron-phonon coupling of doped solid picene from first principles
• Density functional calculations of the electronic structure and magnetic properties of the hydrocarbon K3picene superconductor near the metal-insulator transition
• Investigation on synthesis and physical properties of metal doped picene solids
• Absence of photoemission from the Fermi level in potassium intercalated picene and coronene films: structure, polaron or correlation physics?
• Electronic properties of molecular solids: the peculiar case of solid Picene
• Electronic structure of pristine and K-doped solid picene: Non-rigid-band change and its implication for electron-intramolecular-vibration interaction
• Local and non-local electron-phonon couplings in K3Picene and the effect of metallic screening

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Investigation on synthesis and physical properties of metal doped picene solids
• Structural and bonding character of potassium-doped p-terphenyl superconductors
• A combined experimental and computational study of the pressure dependence of the vibrational spectrum of solid picene C_22H_14
• Downfolding electron-phonon Hamiltonians from ab-initio calculations: application to K${}_3$Picene
• Crystal structure search and electronic properties of alkali doped phenanthrene and picene
• Spectroscopic Evidence of Low Energy Gaps Persisting Towards 120 Kelvin in Surface-Doped p-Terphenyl Crystals
• Facile synthesis of potassium intercalated p-terphenyl and signatures of a possible high Tc phase
• Accelerated Continuous time quantum Monte Carlo method with Machine Learning
• Correlated Electronic Structures and the Phase Diagram of Hydrocarbon-based Superconductors
• Ba${}_2$phenanthrene is the main component in the Ba-doped phenanthrene sample
• Stable structural phase of potassium-doped p-terphenyl and its semiconducting state
• Theory of metal-intercalated phenacenes: Why molecular valence 3 is special
• The role of potassium orbitals in the metallic behavior of K3picene
• Electronic excitation spectrum of doped organic thin films investigated using electron energy-loss spectroscopy