Bending for Better: Flexible Organic Single Crystals with Controllable Curvature and Curvature‐Related Conductivity for Customized Electronic Devices

Abstract

Electronic microdevices of self‐bending coronene crystals are developed to reveal an unexplored link between mechanical deformation and crystal function. First, a facile approach towards length/width/curvature‐controllable micro‐crystals through bottom‐up solution crystallization was proposed for high processability and stability. The bending crystal devices show a significant increase beyond seven orders of magnitude in conductivity than the straight ones, providing the first example of deformation‐induced function enhancement in crystal materials. Besides, double effects caused by bending, including the change of π electron level as well as the enhancement of carrier mobility, were determined, respectively by the X‐ray photoelectric spectroscopy and X‐ray crystallography to coexist, contributing to the conductivity improvement. Our findings will promote future creation of flexible organic crystal systems with deformation‐enhanced functional features towards customized smart devices.