Transport and Magnetic Studies of New Mixed-Valence Compounds: K3Cu8Se6, KCu3Se2, K3Cu8Te6 and BaCuS3-x

New mixed-valent copper chalcogenides BaCuS3_x and K3Cu8X6 with X = Se or Te and KCu3Se2, with chemical patterns corresponding to the recently investigated K3Cu8S6 and KCu3S2, were synthesized. For these new samples the results of resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements are presented. For BaCuS3_x, K3Cu8Se6 and KCu3Se2 the metal—insulator transition is observed with the low temperature phase being metallic, which is untypical, whereas K3Cu8Te6 is a metal in the investigated temperature range. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility of the studied samples testifies to their diamagnetic or weakly paramagnetic behaviour

Evidence of phonon-assisted tunnelling in electrical conduction through DNA molecules

We propose a phonon-assisted tunnelling model for explanation of conductivity dependence on temperature and temperature-dependent I-V characteristics in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. The capability of this model for explanation of conductivity peculiarities in DNA is illustrated by comparison of the temperature dependent I-V data extracted from some articles with tunnelling rate dependences on temperature and field strength computed according to the phonon-assisted tunnelling theory. PACS Codes: 87.15.-v, 71.38.-k, 73.40.GkComment: 6 pages, 3 figure