On the interest of ambipolar materials for gas sensing

Abstract Based on the electrochemical properties of a series of metallophthalocyanines this article shows that the phthalocyanine bearing four alkoxy groups and twelve fluorine atoms behaves approximately as those with eight fluorine atoms. This indicates that the electron-donating effect of one alkoxy group balances the electro-withdrawing effect of one fluorine atom. We engaged three metallophthalocyanines, namely the octafluoro copper phthalocyanine, Cu(F 8 Pc), an octaester metallophthalocyanine and a phthalocyanine bearing four alkoxy groups and twelve fluorine atoms, Zn(T 4 F 12 Pc), in building original conductometric transducers that are Molecular Semiconductor – Doped Insulator heterojunctions (MSDIs) in association with the highly conductive lutetium bisphthalocyanine, LuPc 2 . Whereas the octaester derivative and Zn(T 4 F 12 Pc) exhibited a negative response to ammonia, as expected for p-type materials, Cu(F 8 Pc) exhibited a particular behavior. At low humidity levels, 30 and 10% rh, the current of the Cu(F 8 Pc)/LuPc 2 MSDI decreases, similarly to p-type devices, but at higher relative humidity values, 70% rh, the current increases under ammonia, which is the signature of a n-type behavior. This ambipolar behavior is unique amongst semiconducting sensing materials. This work opens the way to the study of ambipolar materials as sensing materials for the development of a new type of conductometric gas sensors.