We report a new type of material dubbed an ‘orthogonal ambipolar semiconductor’, based on shish-kebab hetero-nanocrystals of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and N,N’-di-n-octyl-3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PDI). P3HT serves as a crystal modifier during growth of PDI nanocrystals, which in turn serve as nucleating agents for growth of P3HT fibrils. By growing these heterostructures via a capillary assisted drop casting method, it is possible to produce well-aligned shish-kebab films with extended PDI nanowires oriented normal to the long axis of the capillary tube, and P3HT fibrils oriented parallel. In this well-aligned P3HT/PDI shish-kebab nanocrystal film, anisotropic electron and hole transport behaviors were successfully achieved, with high electron mobility and no hole transport along the PDI shish direction, and only hole transport along the P3HT kebab direction. Due to hole and electron transport in perpendicular directions, p-type and n-type transistors can be fabricated simply by choosing the orientation of the electrodes. The lack of interference between the two conducting channels provides a solution to the drawbacks associated with traditional ambipolar semiconductors, thereby enabling the fabrication of advanced logic elements (e.g., inverters, NAND and NOR gates) in a simple way.

Polymer-directed assembly of conjugated organic shish-kebabs: Orthogonal ambipolar semiconductors for single active layer logic gates

251st National Meeting (2016)

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