Discotic liquid crystals are flat-cored organic molecules that stack in twisting, electron-conducting columns. They are used in photovoltaics and field-effect transistors. The best discotic species currently in use make stacks with a twist angle of 30°, but calculations show 60° to be optimal for conduction.
Klaus Müllen and Denis Andrienko of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, and their colleagues have synthesized a new molecule with a 60° twist. This doubled electron mobility, and through molecular dynamics simulations, the authors show that removing defects in the stacking structure could push that value higher.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Materials science: Conductors with a twist. Nature 459, 13 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459013a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459013a
