On the origins of charge transport in spin crossover complexes

Spin crossover (SCO) complexes are highly promising candidates for a myriad of potential applications in room-temperature electronics; however, as it stands, establishing a clear connection between their spin-state switching and transport properties has been far from trivial. In this Perspective, an effort to unravel the underlying charge transport mechanism in these SCO complexes, via a general theory, is made. The theory presented herein is aimed at providing a unifying picture that explains the widely different trends observed in the spin-crossover-dependent carrier transport properties in the SCO molecular thin film systems.