Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 38: Layer Properties: Electrical, Optical and Mechanical Properties

DS 38.5: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 15:00–15:15, H8

Photo-switchable azomolecule containing nanocomposites — •Christina Pakula¹, Christian Hanisch¹, Thomas Strunskus¹, Dordaneh Zargarani², Vladimir Zaporojtchenko¹, Rainer Herges², and Franz Faupel¹ — ¹Materialverbunde, Institut für Materialwissenschaft, CAU Kiel, Kaiserstr. 2, 24143 Kiel — ²Otto Diels-Institut, CAU Kiel, Otto-Hahn-Platz 3/4, 24118 Kiel

We report on the electro-optical properties of nanocomposites based on polymer thin films with dissolved azobenzene chromophores containing embedded gold nanoparticles. The physical properties of these composites can be changed reversibly by illumination with UV and visible light, due to the conformational change of the switchable azomolecules. We examined the isomerization and the time dependence in optical switching with UV and visible light of an azobenzene ether dissolved in a PMMA (and a PDMS) matrix in combination with 2D and 3D gold nanoparticle arrays. The chromophore/polymer film was prepared by spin-coating and the metal clusters were deposited either by thermal evaporation or via sputtering and subsequently embedded into the polymer matrix. We discuss the photo-switchable changes in resistance of the 2D/3D-Au nanocomposite films. To improve the reversible switching effect, composites with MWCNTs instead of gold nanoparticles have also been tested and the results will be discussed.