Electrical properties of new donor amphiphiles in Langmuir-Blodgett films

Abstract The electrical properties of novel Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films based on tetrathiotetracenes (TTT), dibenzotetraaza[14]annulenes (TA) and carotenoids were studied. Upon doping with iodine vapour the conductivity of the LB films could be increased by several orders of magnitude. The highest conductivity was found for a doped TTT derivative (10 −2 Scm −1 ). LB films of TTT derivatives which had also been electrochemically oxidized and reduced showed a reversible electrochromism with colour changes between blue in the neutral and red in the oxidized state. While LB films of the TTT and TA derivatives were conducting only in the direction parallel to the layer plane, the carotenoid were also conducting in the normal direction. The optical and structural properties of the undoped and doped LB films were also investigated.