Memory devices, molecular electronic materials

New natural polymers based on synthesis from renewable resources, improved recyclability based on retrosynthesis to reusable precursors, and molecular suicide switches to initiate biodegradation on demand are the exciting areas in polymer science. In the area of biomolecular materials, new materials for implants with improved durability and biocompatibility, light-harvesting materials based on biomimicry of photosynthetic systems, and biosensors for analysis and artificial enzymes for bioremediation will present the breakthrough opportunities. Finally, in the field of electronics and photonics, the new challenges are molecular switches, transistors, and other electronic components molecular photoad-dressable memory devices and ferroelectrics and ferromagnets based on nonmetals. 

For quite a few years we have been concerned with the use of molecular systems in memory devices. Whatever the final objective might be, a fundamental requirement for the system is to have an hysteresis effect with regard to a given perturbation. When it is so, a transition between two electronic states takes place for a certain value of the perturbation, /Vf, when the perturbation increases, and for another value of the perturbation, Pcl, when the perturbation decreases, with Pc[ < Pcf. Between those two critical values, the state of the system depends on its history or on the information which has been stored. It is of course well known that a hard magnetic material might be used for storing information. Our work provides evidence of the possibility that molecular chemistry might provide compounds of that kind. 

Memory devices (electrical, optical) Molecular electronics Nonlinear optics Packaging materials pH modulator Polymer/solid electrolytes Semiconducting devices p-n junctions, pho-tovoltaics, Schottky diodes, light-emitting diodes, transistors, etc. 

Finally, with the aim of industrial applications, assembling the magnetic molecules onto various substrates is another important field, but one that has been less studied. The application potential of magnetic molecular materials in the manufacture of molecular based memory devices, quantum computing, and spintronics devices, requires an understanding of the interactions between the material and substrate in order to manipulate the spin and electronic states of the target system to realize the desired specific properties [137]. 

The immobilization of a photoisomerizable material that can be switched by light between redox-active and redox-inactive or conductive and insulating states offers an encouraging route toward integrated molecular memory devices. Figure 7.2 shows a photoisomer state A in which the molecular unit is redox-inactive and no electronic signal is transduced. Photoisomerization of the chemical component to state B generates a redox-active assembly, and the electron transfer between the electrode and the chemical modifier yields an amperometric (electrochemical) indicator of the state of the system. 

Magnetic interactions of a paramagnetic metal center and a free radical ligand are of interest for the development of new types of molecular magnetic materials. Complexes of this type (such as (83)) change their magnetic properties upon irradiation by visible light and can serve as a basis for development of novel photo-activated memory units for electronic devices.346,347... 

Molecular electronics (ME) is so named because it uses molecules to function as switches and wires . ME is a term that refers both to the use of molecular materials in electronics and to electronics at molecular level. It is as yet not very clear how molecular electronic devices will operate, but it is conjectured that active molecules are needed, either in isolation or becoming active by association with other molecules. It is thought that electronics is likely to imitate some of the basic functions of macroscopic devices such as memories, sensors and logic circuits. 

Metallophthalocyanine polymers offer good stability in thermal, chemical, hydrolytic and photochemical environments. The reversible redox property and cycle stability of phthalocyanine compounds and their polymers make them useful as active components in sensors, switches, diodes, memory devices, NLO materials, etc. different types of phthalocyanine polymers are available and they are amenable to chemical modifications to suit the devices requirements. It is possible to exercise chemical control of the properties of the phthalocyanine polymers as well as functionalize other conducting polymers with the characteristics of phthalocyanines. Hence phthalocyanine polymers have become potential candidates for producing useful and viable materials for electronic, optoelectronic and molecular electronic applications. 

Research into light-initiated chemical reactions and processes on solid surfaces is a growing new field which promises to yield a number of useful applications molecular photo-devices for super memory, photo-chemical vapor deposition to produce thin-layered electronic semiconducting materials, sensitive optical media, and the control of photochemical reaction paths, etc. In fact, photochemistry on solid surfaces is now a major field in a national research project on "Frontiers of Highly Efficient Photochemical Processes" sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan. 

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