Anomalous photoconductivity of ferrocene

Photoconductivity behaviour of ferrocene, a very useful metallo-organic sandwich compound, has been investigated at different constant temperatures using powdery material in a sandwich type of cell configuration and with the exposure of a polychromatic light source (mercury lamp of 125 W). Measurements with a constant d.c. bias voltage (27 V) across the sample cell and a fixed intensity of the exciting light source have shown a drastic change in the photocurrent versus time profile with the increase in temperature. Anomalous changes have been observed in the plot of the photocurrent versus reciprocal of temperature. Such changes are completely absent in the corresponding dark current behaviour. The photoinduced changes have been observed to be almost reversible in the entire temperature range. In a particular temperature range the reversibility of photocurrent is accompanied by fluctuations in equilibrium current obtained after switching off the light source. The observed anomalous changes in photocurrent have been explained by photoinduced phase transition in ferrocene. The possible origin and implications of this photoinduced phase transition are discussed.