School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
Nanoscale. 2017 Dec 14;9(48):19017-19025. doi: 10.1039/c7nr07382h.
The ability to modulate the conductance of an electronic device under light irradiation is crucial to the practical applications of nanoscale electronics. Density functional theory calculations predict that the conductance of the photo-responsive graphene-based nanocomposites can be tuned through the noncovalent adsorption of an azobenzene (AB) derivative onto pristine, Si-doped, and pyridine-like N-vacancy graphene. AB@graphene systems were found to exhibit a visible-light response within the low-frequency region, rendering the trans-to-cis isomerizations of these nanocomposites under the irradiation of solar light. The excellent solar light absorption performances of these hybrids can then be used to modulate the conductance of both N-vacancy- and Si-doped-graphene AB hybrids effectively through the reversible change of the effective conjugate length of the AB molecule in the photoisomerization. In addition, the solar thermal energy up to 1.53 eV per AB molecule can be stored in the designed nanocomposites with the doped graphene. These findings provide clues for making multifunctional materials with potential applications as both optically controlled nanoelectronics and solar energy storage devices.
在光照射下调节电子设备电导率的能力对于纳米电子学的实际应用至关重要。密度泛函理论计算预测，通过将偶氮苯（AB）衍生物非共价吸附到原始、硅掺杂和吡啶型 N 空位石墨烯上，可以调节光响应的基于石墨烯的纳米复合材料的电导率。发现 AB@graphene 系统在低频区域表现出可见光响应，使这些纳米复合材料在太阳光照下发生顺式-反式异构化。这些混合物的优异的太阳光吸收性能可通过 AB 分子在光异构化过程中有效共轭长度的可逆变化来有效调节 N 空位和 Si 掺杂石墨烯 AB 混合物的电导率。此外，在掺杂石墨烯的设计纳米复合材料中，每个 AB 分子可储存高达 1.53eV 的太阳能热能。这些发现为制造多功能材料提供了线索，这些材料具有作为光控纳米电子学和太阳能存储器件的潜在应用。
