Insulator thermal instability

The connection between anomalous conductivity and anomalous diffusion has been also established(Li and Wang, 2003 Li et al, 2005), which implies in particular that a subdiffusive system is an insulator in the thermodynamic limit and a ballistic system is a perfect thermal conductor, the Fourier law being therefore valid only when phonons undergo a normal diffusive motion. More profoundly, it has been clarified that exponential dynamical instability is a sufRcient(Casati et al, 2005 Alonso et al, 2005) but not a necessary condition for the validity of Fourier law (Li et al, 2005 Alonso et al, 2002 Li et al, 2003 Li et al, 2004). These basic studies not only enrich our knowledge of the fundamental transport laws in statistical mechanics, but also open the way for applications such as designing novel thermal materials and/or... 

It is the Peierl s instability that is believed to be responsible for the fact that most CPs in their neutral state are insulators or, at best, weak semiconductors. Hence, there is enough of an energy separation between the conduction and valence bands that thermal energy alone is insufficient to excite electrons across the band gap. To explain the conductive properties of these polymers, several concepts from band theory and solid state physics have been adopted. For electrical conductivity to occur, an electron must have a vacant place (a hole) to move to and occupy. When bands are completely filled or empty, conduction can not occur. Metals are highly conductive because they possess unfilled bands. Semiconductors possess an energy gap small enough that thermal excitation of electrons from the valence to the conduction bands is sufficient for conductivity however, the band gap in insulators is too large for thermal excitation of an electron accross the band gap. 

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