Fabrication of hybrid membranes containing nylon-11 and organic semiconductor particles with potential applications in molecular electronics

María Elena Sánchez-Vergara, Elizabeth Guevara-Martínez, Alejandra Arreola-Castillo, Alejandra Mendoza-Sevilla

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Chemical degradation is a major disadvantage in the development of organic semiconductors. This work proposes the manufacture and characterization of organic semiconductor membranes in order to prevent semiconductor properties decreasing. Semiconductor membranes consisting of Nylon-11 and particles of π-conjugated molecular semiconductors were manufactured by high-vacuum evaporation followed by thermal relaxation. Initially, and with the aim of obtaining semiconductor particles, bulk heterojunction (BHJ) was carried out using green chemistry techniques between the zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and the zinc hexadecafluoro-phthalocyanine (F16ZnPc) as n-type molecular semiconductors with the p-type molecular semiconductor dibenzotetrathiafulvalene (DBTTF). Consequently, the π-conjugated semiconductors particles were embedded in a Nylon-11 matrix and characterized, both structurally and considering their optical and electrical properties. Thin films of these materials were manufactured in order to comparatively study the membranes and precursor semiconductor particles. The membranes presented bandgap (Eg) values that were lower than those obtained in the films, which is an indicator of an improvement in their semiconductor capacity. Finally, the membranes were subjected to accelerated lighting conditions, to determine the stability of the polymer and the operating capacity of the membrane. After fatigue conditions, the electrical behavior of the proposed semiconductor membranes remained practically unaltered; therefore, they could have potential applications in molecular electronics. The chemical stability of membranes, which did not degrade in their polymer compound, nor in the semiconductor, was monitored by IR spectroscopy.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9
JournalPolymers
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2020

Keywords

  • High-vacuum evaporation
  • Molecular semiconductor
  • Optoelectronic properties
  • Semiconductor membrane
  • Thin film

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