Charging and exciton-mediated decharging of metal nanoparticles in organic semiconductor matrices

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 104; no. 16; pp. 163302 - 1
• Main Authors: Ligorio, Giovanni, Vittorio Nardi, Marco, Christodoulou, Christos, Florea, Ileana, Monteiro, Nicolas-Crespo, Ersen, Ovidiu, Brinkmann, Martin, Koch, Norbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 21-04-2014
• Subjects: Applied physics; BINDING ENERGY; Charging; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Electron transfer; Electronic properties; Engineering Sciences; EXCITONS; GOLD; Light; Materials; Micro and nanotechnologies; Microelectronics; N-type semiconductors; Nanoparticles; NANOSTRUCTURES; Optical memory (data storage); ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTORS; P-type semiconductors; PARTICLES; PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY; Semiconductors
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4873347

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were deposited on the surface of n- and p-type organic semiconductors to form defined model systems for charge storage based electrically addressable memory elements. We used ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy to study the electronic properties and found that the Au-NPs become positively charged because of photoelectron emission, evidenced by spectral shifts to higher binding energy. Upon illumination with light that can be absorbed by the organic semiconductors, dynamic charge neutrality of the Au-NPs could be re-established through electron transfer from excitons. The light-controlled charge state of the Au-NPs could add optical addressability to memory elements.