Issue 12, 2014

Tunable electrical conductivity in oriented thin films of tetrathiafulvalene-based covalent organic framework

Abstract

Despite the high charge-carrier mobility in covalent organic frameworks (COFs), the low intrinsic conductivity and poor solution processability still impose a great challenge for their applications in flexible electronics. We report the growth of oriented thin films of a tetrathiafulvalene-based COF (TTF-COF) and its tunable doping. The porous structure of the crystalline TTF-COF thin film allows the diffusion of dopants such as I2 and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) for redox reactions, while the closely packed 2D grid sheets facilitate the cross-layer delocalization of thus-formed TTF radical cations to generate more conductive mixed-valence TTF species, as is verified by UV-vis-NIR and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra. Conductivity as high as 0.28 S m−1 is observed for the doped COF thin films, which is three orders of magnitude higher than that of the pristine film and is among the highest for COF materials.

Graphical abstract: Tunable electrical conductivity in oriented thin films of tetrathiafulvalene-based covalent organic framework

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
26 Aug 2014
Accepted
16 Sep 2014
First published
16 Sep 2014

Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 4693-4700

Author version available

Tunable electrical conductivity in oriented thin films of tetrathiafulvalene-based covalent organic framework

S. Cai, Y. Zhang, A. B. Pun, B. He, J. Yang, F. M. Toma, I. D. Sharp, O. M. Yaghi, J. Fan, S. Zheng, W. Zhang and Y. Liu, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 4693 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02593H

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