Features of electrical conductivity in an incommensurate phase of graphite intercalation compound C10HNO3

Electrical conductivity and conduction-electron spin resonance (CESR) have been studied in stage-2 acceptor α-graphite-nitric acid intercalation compound C₁₀HNO₃. It is found that the electrical conductivity σ_c along the c axis in the structurally incommensurate phase of this compound is temperature independent, whereas the electrical conductivity σ_a along carbon layers exhibits “metallic” temperature behavior. Analysis of the temperature dependences of σ_c, σ_a, and the CESR linewidth demonstrates that, in the incommensurate phase of the graphite intercalation compound, the electrical conductivity along the c axis is realized through a nonband mechanism—the transfer of free charge carriers along thin high-conductivity channels shunting the carbon layers adjacent to the intercalate.