Development of Electrochemical Polymerization of Single-Molecular Wires

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Key to realize the high performance of organic devices using conducting polymers is how to fabricate a highly organized structure on surface at a single molecular scale. Here we have demonstrated a new single-molecular processing-technique using electrochemistry, called 'electrochemical epitaxial polymerization'. This technique is based on a step-by-step electropolymerization of monomer along the lattice of iodine-covered Au(111) surface to form the single conjugated-polymer wires by applying voltage-pulses into monomer-electrolyte solution. By using this technique, we have succeeded in building a uniform high-density array of single conducting-polymer wires on electrode as long as 200 nm, with controlling wire's density, length, direction and shape. This first observation will open the door to a mass-production of single molecular-scale devices using conducting polymers.