Due to the existence of energetic disorders, the physical pictures of charge transport in organic solids have long been controversial. One of the most interesting topics in recent decades is whether conducting polymers’ nonlinear transport behavior, i.e., the current I exhibits power-law dependence on both temperature T (I∝T^α) and voltage V (I∝V^β)^6-14, is possibly related to Luttinger liquid (LL) features. This assumption is raised by the Nobel Prize-winner Alan. Heeger proposed in a study [Nat.Mater.8,572(2009)], which has been a pending issue for more than ten years.

Liu Ming, academician of the key Laboratory of Microelectronics Devices and Integration Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her group have proposed a model based on quantum electronic liquids to explain the controversial nonlinear transport phenomena of conductive polymers. By taking into account the degree of coupling between one-dimensional electronic structures of polymers, the heterogeneous resistance network formed by Fermi liquid and Luttinger liquid was raised to successfully account for the nonlinear excitation behaviors of the coexisting one-dimensional and two-dimensional electrons in conductive polymers. The model not only describes the I-V and G-T characteristics of nonlinear transport, but also provides a new idea for analyzing the source of disorder in organic solids.

 The work was published in the Nature Communications Journal with the title ‘A tied Fermi liquid to Luttinger liquid model for nonlinear transport in conducting polymers’(DOI：10.1038/s41467-020-20238-5). Wang Jiawei, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Microelectronics is the first author of the article.