Electrical and galvanomagnetic properties of biocarbon preforms of white pine wood

Abstract

The electrical and galvanomagnetic properties of high-porosity biocarbon preforms prepared from white pine wood by pyrolysis at carbonization temperatures T _carb = 1000 and 2400°C have been studied. Measurements have been made of the behavior with temperature of the electrical resistivity, as well as of magnetoresistance and the Hall coefficient in the 1.8–300-K temperature interval and magnetic fields of up to 28 kOe. It has been shown that samples of both types (with T _carb = 1000 and 2400°C) are characterized by high carrier (hole) concentrations of 6.3 × 10²⁰ and 3.6 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³, respectively. While these figures approach the metallic concentration, the electrical resistivity of the biocarbon materials studied, unlike that of normal metals, grows with decreasing temperature. Increasing T _carb brings about a decrease in electrical resistivity by a factor 1.5–2 within the 1.8–300-K temperature range. The magnetoresistance also follows a qualitatively different pattern at low (1.8–4.2 K) temperatures: it is negative for T _carb = 2400°C and positive for T _carb = 1000°C. An analysis of experimental data has revealed that the specific features in the conductivity and magnetoresistance of these samples are described by quantum corrections associated inherently with structural characteristics of the biocarbon samples studied, more specifically with the difference between the fractions of the quasi-amorphous and nanocrystalline phases, as well as with the fine structure of the latter phase forming at the two different T _carb.