Lyotropic 'hairy' TiO2 nanorods

Cheng, Fei; Verrelli, Emanuele; Alharthi, Fahad A.; Kelly, Stephen M.; O'Neill, Mary; Kemp, Neil T.; Kitney, Stuart P.; Lai, Khue T.; Mehl, Georg H.; Anthopoulos, Thomas

Abstract

We report the synthesis of the first stable, solution-processable and photocrosslinkable hybrid organic/inorganic titanium dioxide nanorods as ‘hairy rods’ coated with phosphonate ligands with photoreactive coumarin groups located in a terminal position. The relationships between the chemical structure of the diethyl-w-[(7-oxycoumaryl)-n-alkyl]phosphonate ligands on the ligand exchange rate (LER) and the solubility of the resultant ligand-stabilized titanium dioxide nanorods in organic solvents are elucidated. These TiO2 nanorods, with an organic ligand coating, are short enough (aspect ratio = 5–8) to be dissolved in chlorobenzene at high concentrations, but long enough to form lyotropic nematic liquid crystals. These colloidal solutions are used to deposit a thin, uniform layer of hybrid organic/inorganic TiO2 nanorods with their long axes in the plane of a flat, smooth substrate through a self-organization process. Standard photolithographic patterning creates an insoluble dielectric layer of the desired thickness, smoothness and uniformity and with a dielectric constant of sufficient magnitude, k = 8, suitable for the fabrication of multilayer, plastic electronic devices using solution-based fabrication techniques, such as ink-jet printing, used in roll-to-roll manufacturing.

Citation

Cheng, F., Verrelli, E., Alharthi, F. A., Kelly, S. M., O'Neill, M., Kemp, N. T., Kitney, S. P., Lai, K. T., Mehl, G. H., & Anthopoulos, T. (2019). Lyotropic 'hairy' TiO2 nanorods. Nanoscale advances, 1(1), 254-264. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8na00054a

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 19, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 17, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Journal: Nanoscale Advances
• Electronic ISSN: 2516-0230
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 254-264
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c8na00054a
• Keywords: Titanum Oxide; Nanorods; Liquid crystals; Self-assembled Dielectric Layers
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1041704
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2018/NA/C8NA00054A#!divAbstract
• Contract Date: Sep 14, 2018