Improvement in carrier mobility of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) nanowires synthesized in porous alumina templates

Polymeric nanowires of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) are electrochemically synthesized using porous anodic alumina oxide (AAO) membranes as templates. Four‐point resistivity measurements on more than 100 PEDOT nanowires with different diameters (50–250 nm) reveal a statistically significant size‐dependent phenomenon in which the nanowires with a smaller diameter exhibit higher conductivity. Structural characterization with Raman spectroscopy and doping level estimation with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicate that the observed conductivity enhancement can be attributed to improved carrier mobility in PEDOT nanowires having an elongated conjugation structure because of the effect of the AAO template. From the estimated doping levels (～5%) and conductivity data (～100 S/cm), it is found that the carrier mobility reach 2.0 cm²/V s for the nanowire with the smallest diameter, as compared with 4.0 × 10^?4 cm²/V s for a bulk PEDOT film. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Pressure-induced structure change of molten KCl

Abstract

Energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction experiments of molten KCl under high pressure have been carried out by using synchrotron radiation. The diffraction profiles of molten KCl were acquired just above the melting temperature of KCl up to 4 GPa. The reduced structure factor S(Q)'s for molten KCl do not show any change in their primary features, except for a gradual increase in the first peak intensity with increasing pressure. This implies that molten KCl does not show a first-order phase transition, such as the B1-B2 transition, found in solid KCl, but that the local structure in molten KCl must be changed by compression. According to a molecular-dynamics simulation, this change of S(Q) can be explained by a continuous increase in the coordination number of the nearest-neighbor ions in molten KCl with pressure.     

Enhanced Charge Transport in a Conjugated Polymer Blended with an Insulating Polymer

Herein, the hole transport in a quinoxaline–thiophene based conjugated polymer (PTQ1) mixed with an insulating polystyrene (PS) was studied by macroscopic and local current density?voltage characteristics measurements. As a result, we found that the hole conductivity in PTQ1 : PS blends increases as the weight ratio of PTQ1 is reduced down to 20 wt%. This is mainly ascribed to increases in mobility because the charge carrier density would be constant in the insulating PS matrix. With decreasing PTQ1 weight ratio in the blends, the absorption bandwidth of PTQ1 and additional emission due to excimer decreased, suggesting that interchain interactions are suppressed. By measuring the temperature‐dependent conductivity, we also found that the activation energy for the hole conductivity is smaller in PTQ1 : PS blends than in PTQ1 neat films. These findings suggest that trap sites decrease because of the suppressed interaction between PTQ1 chains in blend films. We also measured conductive atomic force microscope images of the blend films to clarify the local conductive property. For PTQ1 neat films, a low conductive image was observed over the entire film. For PTQ1 : PS blends, on the other hand, many highly conductive spots were locally found. We thus conclude that the dilution of PTQ1 chains in the PS matrix leads to a lower formation of trap sites, resulting in more conductive transport in PTQ1 : PS blends than in PTQ1 neat films.     

Effect of carbon dioxide concentrations on asymmetric reduction of ketones with plant-cultured cells

Enantioselectivities in asymmetric reduction of ketones were controlled by atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations: the reaction in high carbon dioxide concentrations under illumination of fluorescent light afforded the corresponding l-alcohol while that in low carbon dioxide concentrations in the presence of glucose under dark conditions gave the antipode, d-alcohol.