Development of Electrochemical Polymerization of Single-Molecular Wires

实现导电聚合物有机器件高性能的关键是如何在单分子尺度上在表面制造高度组织化的结构。在这里，我们展示了一种新的使用电化学的单分子加工技术，称为“电化学外延聚合”。该技术是通过将电压脉冲施加到单体电解质溶液中，使单体沿着碘覆盖的Au（111）表面的晶格逐步电聚合，形成单个共轭聚合物导线。利用该技术，我们成功地在电极上构建了长度为200nm的均匀高密度单导电聚合物导线阵列，并控制了导线的密度、长度、方向和形状。这一首次观察将为大规模生产使用导电聚合物的单分子设备打开大门。

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.