Electrooptical Chromophores for Nonlinear Optical and Photorefractive Applications

Transient photoconductivity in a discotic hexagonal plastic crystal

Photophysical Properties of Discotic Dibenzopyrenes

Abstract The photophysical properties of three discogenic dibenzopyrenes substituted by eight pentyloxy (O5DPB), heptyloxy (O7DBPP) or decyloxy (O10DBP) side chains are studied in solution and thin films. It is shown that the absorption and fluorescence spectra of the columnar mesophases are clearly distinguishable from those of the corresponding crystalline phases, allowing the study of phase transitions. Thus, it is found that the shorter the lateral chain length, the slower the crystallisation process. For O5DBP, the supercooled mesophase is stable over a period of at least one year; it crystallises after cooling below the glassy transition. Such a behaviour gives rise to temperature con…

Photoconductivity in the columnar phases of a glassy discotic twin

Discotic Liquid Crystals - A New Class of Fast Photoconductors

We showed for the first time that discotic liquid crystals are well suited for a new class of fast photoconducting materials. Due to their spontaneous orientation and their dynamical fluctuations in the mesophase, they show exceptionally high mobilities of 1·10−3 cm2/Vs, about two to three orders of magnitude higher than those obtained for conventional amorphous polymers. Further on, the Gaussian transport (for holes in the mesophase) is remarkable, which is characterized by the existence of a conduction band and the absence of trapping states. In contrast, the charge carrier transport in amorphous photoconductors is generally trap-dominated which limits technical properties, leading to low…

Fast photoconduction in the highly ordered columnar phase of a discotic liquid crystal

THE search for organic materials suitable for electronic applica-tions dates back to the early 1950s. But the only organic systems known so far to show electronic charge-carrier mobilities comparable to the amorphous inorganic semiconductors that are the main-stay of the microelectronics industry are zone-refined organic single crystals1–4. Single crystals are difficult and costly to process, however, and are not suitable for device applications. Here we show that a highly ordered columnar (stacked) phase of disk-like organic molecules can exhibit high mobilities for photoinduced charge carriers, of the order of 0.1 cm2 V-1 s-1—higher than for any organic material other than single-crystal …

Transient photoconductivity in a discotic liquid crystal

Using a time-of-flight technique, different transport mechanisms, deep trapping, multiple shallow trapping, and ideal itrinsic transport, can be observed in the different temperature and phase regions of the liquid-crystalline photoconductor hexapentyloxytriphenylene. The temperature and field dependences of carrier mobilities up to 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/V s have been determined; this value exceeds considerably the mobilities of the most commonly used organic photoconductors. The experiments reflect a variety of transport phenomena which are novel in the field of liquid-crystalline systems.

Synthesis of New Functionalized Discotic Liquid Crystals for Photoconducting Aplications

Abstract The columnar structure of discotic liquid crystals has been shown to be well suited for electronic transport parallel to the columnar axis. To tailor the processibility and mesophase behavior of such materials, several hydroxytriphenylene derivatives were synthesized. These hydroxytriphenylenes can be converted into oligomers, networks or polymers. Further, they can be reduced to arenes which posses reactive sites for classical aromatic substitutions. A number of mixed tail triphenylene derivatives and fluorescent, low symmetry triphenylene discotic liquid crystals were synthesized and characterized.

The mobility of charge carriers in all four phases of the columnar discotic material hexakis(hexylthio)triphenylene: Combined TOF and PR-TRMC results

Electronic Properties of Discotic LC-Materials

Abstract We have made extensive studies of the charge-carrier mobilities in the discotic hexagonal mesophases of triphenylene-based discotic liquid crystals. Using the time-of-flight technique, transient photocurrents were measured yielding charge-carrier mobilities for various electric fields and temperatures. Starting from promising results obtained with the monomeric discotic liquid crystalline model compound hexapentyloxytriphenylene (H5T), we synthesized a “discotic twin” with two triphenylene units linked together by a suitable spacer. Additionally, we synthesized a discotic liquid crystalline oligomer consisting of four triphenylene units which are bound to a flexible cyclosiloxane r…

Photoconductivity in Discotic Liquid Crystals: A New Class of High-Mobility Materials

Abstract Using a time-of-flight technique, different transport mechanisms, deep trapping, multiple shallow trapping and Gaussian transport, can be observed in the different temperature and phase regions of the liquidcrystalline (LC) photoconductor hexapentyloxytriphenylene (HPT). Transient photocurrents and carrier mobilities for various temperatures, electric fields, and sample histories were examined. The ideal intrinsic Gaussian transport, observed for holes in the mesophase, puts HPT into a new class of highmobility materials with both hole mobilities on the order of 1.10−3cm2/Vs and a steplike current decay. These features result from the fact that there is obviously neither a position…