A novel hybrid coating based on a combination of nanoparticles, sol-gel and organic chemistry is reported. It can be applied to a large variety of surfaces even at low processing temperatures, and it cures below 150°C. Furthermore, fabrication of the hybrid films on polymer sheets can be done under ambient conditions. No vacuum techniques are required. Boehmite nanoplatelet composite hybrid organic/inorganic coating materials have been successfully prepared via this approach. The coating process involves the dispersion of boehmite nanoparticles that are suspended without significant agglomeration. 3-glycidoxy propyl trimethoxy silane (GPTMS) was adopted as dispersant for the nanoplatelets and functions also as a network former. This induces flexibility in the hybrid film due to the organic functional groups. Transparent cured coatings from flexible to brittle were obtained from a single coating step with thicknesses in excess of 10 μm depending on the ratio of the inorganic/organic reagents and their concentrations. Barrier coatings with more than 60wt% ceramic nanoplatelets were achieved, yet they still display transparency of more than 95% to visible light with no cracks or other discernable defects. Several substrates have been successfully tested including poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET). Moreover water permeability for cured coated PET films is reduced to less than 0.01 g/m2/d. Excellent mechanical properties such as flexibility and hardness are demonstrated by nanoindentation and scratch tests.

The molecular conformation-dependent write-once read-many-times (WORM) memory based on an acrylate polymer containing pendant carbazole (donor) groups is transformed into a flash (rewritable) memory when acrylate units containing pendant oxadiazole (acceptor) groups are incorporated to form a copolymer. The as-fabricated device based on the acrylate copolymer containing carbazole-oxadiazole donor-acceptor pendant groups is in its low conductivity state and can be written to a high conductivity state at a threshold voltage of -1.8 V. The high conductivity state can be switched (erased) to the low conductivity state with a positive bias of 3.6 V. The device exhibits a high ON/OFF current ratio of 103 at a read voltage of -1 V. This rewritable polymer memory can be programmed and erased repeatedly with good accuracy. The copolymer is potentially useful for application in flash memory devices.

Low-voltage organic transistors are sought for implementation in high volume low-power portable electronics of the future. Here we assess the suitability of three phosphonic acid based self-assembling molecules for use as ultra-thin gate dielectrics in low-voltage solution processable organic field-effect transistors. In particular, monolayers of phosphonohexadecanoic acid in metal-monolayer-metal type sandwich devices are shown to exhibit low leakage currents and high geometrical capacitance comparable to previously demonstrated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) type dielectrics but with a higher surface energy. The improved surface energy characteristics enable processing of a wider range of organic semiconductors from solution. Transistors based on a number of solution-processed organic semiconductors with operating voltages below 2 V are also demonstrated.