Flexible Molecular‐Scale Electronic Devices Composed of Diarylethene Photoswitching Molecules

Abstract

The electrical properties of diarylethene photoswitching molecular devices on flexible substrates are studied. When exposed to UV or visible light, diarylethene molecular devices show two electrical states (a high and a low conductance state) with a discrepancy of an order of magnitude in the level of current between the two states. The diarylethene flexible molecular devices exhibit excellent long‐time stability and reliable electrical characteristics in both conductance states when subjected to various mechanical stresses.

The crystal structure of 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5-(3-cyanophenyl)-3-thienyl]-3,3,4,4,5,5-hexafluoro-cyclopent-1-ene, C29H16F6N2S2

“…Colourless crystals turn blue when irradiated by 313 UV light, and the reversible transition can be triggered by exposure to visible light. The photochromism was highly reproducible in the crystalline phase even after 200 successive cycles, indicating that it may find application in certain optoelectronic devices [4,13].…”

Optical properties of gold nanoparticles decorated with furan-based diarylethene photochromic molecules

“…The YnPhT anchored to a flat gold mono crystal [10] . These experiments revealed higher stability of DAE on a metallic surface under mechanical and temperature stresses albeit with reduced switching kinetics.…”

“…Using these findings, flexible molecular devices based on the YnPhT DAE were designed and showed reversible conductance switching ( Fig. 1) [10,38] . Apparently, YnPhT molecules sandwiched between a macroscopic non-symmetric Au-reduced graphene-oxide electrode pair preserved their optically induced reversible switching behaviour.…”

“…Moreover, open (OF) and closed form (CF) DAE display strong variation of electric conductance [2] when contacted by metallic electrodes, making them perfect candidates for development of optically driven molecular switches, an intensely investigated field during recent years [10][11][12] . However, further progress in design of DAE-based molecular electronics requires a detailed understanding of the photo-switching mechanism of hybrid (molecules-metallic contact) systems and the factors controlling them.…”

Picosecond cyclization reaction dynamics of furan-based diarylethene with thiosemicarbazone side-chain groups

“…This type of switchers attracts much attention for the last few years [2,3]. Moreover, these molecules can be contacted in two-wire geometry making them applicable as organic elements in optoelectronics [4].…”