Light-emission from in-situ grown organic nanostructures

ABSTRACT Organic crystalline nanofibers made from phenylene-based molecules exhibit a wide range of extraordinary optical properties such as intense, anisotropic and polarized luminescence that can be stimulated either optically or electrically, waveguiding and random lasing. For lighting and display purposes, the high quantum yield and the easy tunability of the color by changing the molecular building blocks are especially important. The application of such nanostructures as electrically driven light-emitters requires integration with suitable metal electrodes for efficient carrier injection. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of a method for achieving such nanostructure integration. The method relies on growing the nanostructures directly between metal electrodes on a substrate that has been specially designed to guide the nanostructures growth. We present results in terms of morphological characterization and demonstrate how appropriate biasing with an AC gate voltage enables electroluminescence from these in-situ grown organic nanostructures. Keywords: Organic semiconductors, in-situ growth, nanofiber integration