Protonic nano-rectifier: STM imaging

Abstract

A scanning tunnelling microscope has been used to study the electrical I–V characteristics and structure of a self‐assembled complex molecular layer with rectifying properties based on a protonic p–n junction. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Direct evidence for the key role of protons in the protonic p-n junction using L-band EPR and polyaniline as a proton-sensitive spin probe

“…Polyaniline is one of the first conductive polymers, examined in our laboratory since pioneering times (1975), and our first publication appeared in 1978 15 . Interestingly, our studies in the field of protonics, including the protonic p-n junction, appear at roughly the same time (1980), and the results were published in 1984 [5][6][7][8][9] . Ultimately, many laboratories have been involved and many papers were published in both fields (including our contribution), and "conducting polymers" were awarded with Nobel Prize in 2000 (Alan MacDiarmid, Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa).…”

“…Water, as an intrinsic protonic semiconductor, is doped with an acid or a base, to form protonic analogues of the n-type or the p-type semiconductors, and then a protonic p-n junction [5][6][7][8][9]13 . The modification and mechanical stability of the system is preserved using functionalised polymers -ion exchangers: Dowex 50W (Dx50) and Dowex 1x4 (Dx1) with the acidic groups -SO 3 H and the basic groups -[N(CH 3 ) 3 ] + OH -, respectively (Fig.…”

Anisotropic Superprotonic Conduction in a Layered Single‐Component Hydrogen‐Bonded Organic Framework with Multiple In‐Plane Open Channels

“…[ 55,56 ] As shown in Figure 5d, the HOF‐TPB‐A 3 /Mg‐Al‐LDH‐NO 3 ionic diode showed a distinct asymmetric and nonlinear I–V curve, and the current under forward bias started to increase sharply at ≈3.4 V. After testing multiple devices for multiple times at 298 K and 98% RH, the average rectification ratio, i.e., the ratio between the current magnitude at a forward bias of +10 V and at a reverse bias of −10 V, was determined as 53 (Figure 5d; Figure S24, Supporting Information). This outperforms previous proton rectifiers based on MPA‐APS, [ 29 ] maleic chitosan/proline chitosan, [ 30 ] and Dowex‐50/Dowex‐1, [ 31 ] and is comparable with Amberlite IR‐120/Amberlite IR‐400‐based protonic diode. [ 57 ] In addition, the diode showed good stability under constant positive and negative voltages (Figure 5e), demonstrating its potential for practical applications.…”

Electrically-Induced Light Emission in Polymer-Stabilized Proton Gradient Systems

“…Further our studies led to verification and some applications of this idea, e.g. in a protonic rectifier and complex protonic systems, including nano scale protonic rectifier [5][6][7][8][9] . Up to date, a number of papers concerning protonic conductivity have been published also by other laboratories 4,[11][12][13][14] .…”