Graphene and related materials hold great potential for technological applications such as electronics, sensors, and energy storage devices, among others. Thanks to their high surface sensitivity, these materials are an ideal platform to study the interplay between molecular assemblies at the nanoscale and macroscopic electrical phenomena.
Researchers within the Graphene Flagship designed a molecule that can reversibly undergo chemical transformations when illuminated with ultraviolet and visible light. This molecule –a photoswitchable spiropyran– can be then anchored to the surface of materials such as graphene or molybdenum disulfide, thus generating an atomically precise hybrid macroscopic superlattice. When illuminated, the whole supramolecular structure experiences a collective structural rearrangement, which could be directly visualized with a sub-nanometer resolution by scanning tunneling microscopy.
More importantly, this light-induced reorganization at the molecular level induces large changes in the macroscopic electrical properties of the hybrid devices. The molecules, together with the layers of graphene and related materials, can convert single-molecule events into a spatially homogeneous switching action that generates a macroscopic electrical response. This novel and versatile approach takes supramolecular electronics to the next level.
‘Thanks to this new approach, we can exploit the capacity of collective switching events occurring in superlattices of photochromic molecules assembled onto graphene and related materials to induce large scale and reversible modulation in the electrical properties of high-performance opto-electronic devices,’ explains Paolo Samorì, lead author of the paper. ‘This technology could find applications in the next generation of smart and portable electronics, with programmable properties,’ he adds.
Samorì also explains how this idea of tailoring molecular superlattices could generate a wide variety of new materials with tunable and responsive properties. ‘Dial your functions! You only need to carefully choose the right molecules, the thus-formed superlattice will allow to maximize the change in properties as a response to external inputs,’ he says.
Vittorio Pellegrini, researcher at IIT and Division Leader for Energy, Composites, and Production at the Graphene Flagship, highlights how the research is ‘unique in the way it combines graphene and other related materials with light-responsive chemical molecules. These macroscopic arrangements are promising platforms for optoelectronics.’ Pellegrini points out the outstanding potential of these new findings: ‘the molecular ultra-thin coating can be tailored just by synthesizing different molecules.’ Moreover, ‘this discovery will lead us to the development of devices, as the technique developed by Samorì and his team can be scaled up in reproducible manner,’ he added. Samorì agrees: ‘The limit in the scalability is the accessibility to ultra-flat and atomically precise graphene and related materials.’
These advances, made possible by the collaborative environment of the Graphene Flagship, could lead to promising applications in sensors, optoelectronics, and flexible devices. Researchers now dream of high-performance multifunctional hybrid devices under control of nature’s most abundant and powerful source of energy – light.
Learn more: Flipping the switch on supramolecular electronics
The Latest on: Supramolecular electronics
[google_news title=”” keyword=”supramolecular electronics” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Supramolecular electronics
- Automotive Electronicson April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Samsung is aiming at electric vehicle on-board chargers with a 1,000v 22nF multi-layer ceramic capacitor. CL32C223JIV1PN# (yes, there is a # in the part number) is aimed at CLLC resonant power supply ...
- Industrial Electronicson April 15, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Sensor Technology has torque sensor accurate to ±0.1% of full-scale, that has its sensing head and electronics in separate housings. “This has two advantages,” according to the company. “The sensing ...
- Electronics Newson April 13, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Apr. 11, 2024 — New research suggests that materials commonly overlooked in computer chip design actually play an important role in information processing, a discovery which could lead to faster ...
- Best Places to Sell Your Used Electronics for 2024on April 9, 2024 at 2:01 pm
Adam Oram is a Senior Editor at CNET. He studied Media at Newcastle University and has been writing about technology since 2013. He previously worked as a Senior Writer at iMore, Deals Editor at ...
- How old cellphones, broken electronics could help fight climate changeon April 8, 2024 at 8:21 pm
They'll power electric vehicles and store electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels while they continue juicing personal electronics. Demand for minerals needed to make those ...
- Self-assembly articles from across Nature Portfolioon April 2, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Here, an isolated flat band is realized and visualized in a 2D supramolecular crystal based ... nanophases are critical for stretchable electronics but face mixing challenges.
- Reconfigurable electronics: More functionality on less chip areaon March 11, 2024 at 7:47 am
Walter M. Weber from the Institute of Solid State Electronics at TU Wien. "Such a material would be silicon, for example, in which certain foreign atoms are incorporated. This is known as doping." ...
- UEIC Universal Electronics Inc.on February 4, 2024 at 3:36 pm
Universal Electronics Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, ships, and supports control and sensor technology solutions in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, rest of Asia ...
- Consumer Electronicson January 11, 2024 at 6:30 pm
Do you use a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera? From wide-angle to telephoto, these are the best lenses we've tested for the platform. Many people love Pentax SLRs for their quality construction ...
via Bing News