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'Seeing' molecular interactions could give boost to organic electronics

Date:
July 28, 2015
Source:
Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University
Summary:
For the first time, researchers have directly seen how organic molecules bind to other materials at the atomic level. Using a special kind of electron microscopy, this information can lead to increasing the life span of electronic devices, for example.
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Organic materials are increasingly being applied in cutting-edge technologies. Organic semiconductors, for example, are being used to develop paper-thin, plastic LED screens.

Materials scientists need to understand the structures and physical properties of organic materials at the atomic level to optimize the efficiency and increase the life span of devices that incorporate them.

Previously used techniques for this purpose have had their limitations although high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) has recently successfully been used to visualize the structures, movements and reactions of single, small organic molecules.

Now, for the first time, a team of researchers from Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology together with colleagues from Finland's Tampere University of Technology has successfully used HR-TEM to visualize a certain type of organic molecular interaction at the atomic level.

They linked pyrene, a hydrocarbon composed of four flat benzene rings, to a single-walled carbon nanotube that the researchers used as a scaffold for this purpose. They then used HR-TEM to see the link.

"This same methodology can be used to study any organic molecules that contain an aryl group," says Tomokazu Umeyama, the study's lead investigator. An aryl group is a group of atoms derived from benzene by removing a hydrogen atom. "The methodology has the potential to provide indispensible information regarding molecular interactions," he says.


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Materials provided by Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Tomokazu Umeyama, Jinseok Baek, Yuta Sato, Kazu Suenaga, Fawzi Abou-Chahine, Nikolai V. Tkachenko, Helge Lemmetyinen, Hiroshi Imahori. Molecular interactions on single-walled carbon nanotubes revealed by high-resolution transmission microscopy. Nature Communications, 2015; 6: 7732 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8732

Cite This Page:

Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University. "'Seeing' molecular interactions could give boost to organic electronics." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 July 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728110532.htm>.
Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University. (2015, July 28). 'Seeing' molecular interactions could give boost to organic electronics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728110532.htm
Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University. "'Seeing' molecular interactions could give boost to organic electronics." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728110532.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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