Polythiophene mesowires: synthesis by template wetting and local electrical characterisation of single wires

Abstract

We report on the synthesis of semiconducting mesowires from regioregular poly(3hexylthiophene) via melt injection into a porous alumina template. Following liberation from the template, mesowires with diameters y450 nm and average lengths of 10 mm were obtained. For two-terminal electrical contacting of individual mesowires on insulating substrates, the drain electrode was formed by shadow masking and metal evaporation, and a conducting probe atomic force microscope tip was employed as the source electrode. This approach enabled combined topographic imaging and spatially resolved electrical characterisation of individual mesowires, allowing the intrinsic mesowire resistivity (700 ¡ 300 V m) as well as the contact resistance (10 ¡ 6 GV) to be estimated. Fitting the measured data to a thermionic emission-diffusion model yielded a hole mobility y2 6 10 25 cm 2 V 21 s 21 and a metal-polymer interface barrier height y0.1 eV.

Highly Ordered Anodic Porous Alumina Formation by Self‐Organized Anodizing

“…A melt-assisted template method employing anodic porous alumina was used for the synthesis of semi-conducting polythiophene mesowires [615]. The AAO template was also used for the fabrication of organic-inorganic hybrid polymer nanowires consisting of poly(N-vinylcarvazole), rhodamine 6G and TiO 2 nanoparticles [616].…”

Versatile strategies for fabricating polymer nanomaterials with controlled size and morphology

“…142,143 Various kinds of polymer nanofibers have been fabricated via chemical or electrochemical polymerization of monomers 144 and wetting of polymer solutions or melts. 145,146 Polydicarbazole nanorods with carboxyl functional groups were chemically polymerized within the cylindrical pores of alumina membranes by a liquid phase polymerization technique, 144 and liquid crystalline epoxy/PANI composite nanorods were prepared inside an alumina membrane by a temperature-gradient curing process. 145 Nanofibers consisting of vinyl polymers such as PMMA and PGMA were obtained through a VDP-mediated template method.…”

Nanoporous Anodic Aluminum Oxide: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications

“…Anodic aluminum oxide is also applied as a template for fabrication of arranged nanowires made of organic compounds (Table 9). These are often formed via template dipping or wetting [3, 94,98,99,114,174,187,190,192,251]. Optical properties of organic and polymeric nanowires are very often researched [3, 98,99,101,125,192,174,273].…”

“…Optical properties of organic and polymeric nanowires are very often researched [3, 98,99,101,125,192,174,273]. Electric properties of conductive organic nanowires are also in the focus of investigations (polypyrrole [277], polythiophene [190]). Additionally, nanowires made of triglycine sulfate posses pyroelectric properties, which were investigated by Nitzani and Berger [187].…”