Surface confined assemblies and polymers for sensing and molecular logic

Since the development of molecule-based sensors and the introduction of molecules mimicking the behavior of the AND gate in solution by de Silva in 1993, molecular (Boolean) Logic and Computing (MBLC) has become increasingly popular. The molecular approach toward Boolean logic resulted in intriguing proofs of concepts in solution including logic gates, half-adders, multiplexers, and flip-flop logic circuits. Molecular assemblies can perform diverse logic tasks by reconfiguring their inputs. Our recent research activities focus on MBLC with electrochromic polymers and immobilized polypyridyl complexes on solid support. We have designed a series of coordination-based thin films that are formed linearly by stepwise wet-chemical deposition or by self-propagating molecular assembly. The electrochromic properties of these films can be used for (i) detecting various analytes in solution and in the air, (ii) MBLC, (iii) electron-transfer studies, and (iv) interlayers for efficient inverted bulk-heterojunction solar cells. Our concept toward MBLC with functionalized surfaces is applicable to electrochemical and chemical inputs coupled with optical readout. Using this approach, we demonstrated various logic architectures with redox-active functionalized surfaces. Electrochemically operated sequential logic systems (e.g., flip-flops), multi-valued logic, and multi-state memory have been designed, which can improve computational power without increasing spatial requirements. Applying multi-valued digits in data storage and information processing could exponentially increase memory capacity. Our approach is applicable to highly diverse electrochromic thin films that operate at practical voltages (< 1.5 V).