A new semiconducting organic–inorganic nanocomposite, 1,5-diaminonphthalene–saponite intercalation compound

Abstract We synthesized a new intercalation compound, 1,5-diaminonaphathalene(DAN)–saponite where intercalated DAN molecules were shown to have a formal charge of +0.67 The measurement of optical diffuse reflectance spectra revealed the formation of electronic bands with a gap of ca. 1 eV suggesting semiconducting behaviour of this system. From ESR measurements, the radical formation in DAN–saponite was confirmed and the spin concentration was determined to be 1 spin per 200 and 300 DAN-molecules at 290 and 7.9 K, respectively. This temperature dependence of the spin density also implies the semiconductive nature of DAN–saponite.