Directional Assembly of Emergent Luminescent and Anisotropic d10 Coinage Metal Organic Chalcogenolate Nanomaterials for Fabrication of Pressure Sensitive Devices

Today, there is a tremendous need of new optoelectronic devices for spontaneous and visual reading of the touch/pressure through high-spatial resolution for smart technologies such as e-skin, robotics, touchpad screens, or medical monitors.

To replace the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) that actually used in light emissive devices, mostly lanthanides, iridium or platinum, and to generate highly sensitive pressure sensors, the strategy of AniMOC project, is to use luminescent and anisotropic (1D or 2D) nanomaterials, in order to apply a directional strain on the targeted bonds involved in the optoelectronic processes.

Thus, the emerging anisotropic d10 coinage Metal Organic Chalcogenolates (MOCs) as coordination polymers, [M(ER)]n, M = Cu, Ag, Au and ER = chalcogenolate ligand, are ideal candidates, because they are a good alternative to CRM and present an intense emission, due to the metallophillic interactions, as well as intrinsic multiemission bands.

Therefore, the main breakthrough is to fabricate thin films with a preferential alignment of the anisotropic and luminescent MOCs through strong bonds between the nanoobjects in order to get high pressure sensitivity and stable and reversible processes.

To reach this target, the four objectives of AniMOC are (i) to synthesize nanowires and nanosheets of [M(SR)]n, (M = Cu, Ag, Au) (ii) to control the functionalization of the external surfaces of the nanoobjects, (iii) to couple and organize them by cupling reactions dynamc covalent chemistry and (iv) to fabricate orientated thin films of MOCs that exhibit pressure dependent photoemission.

The AniMOC project is a great opportunity to develop new luminescent touch sensitive devices that will open a new path to lightening technologies avoiding the present of CRM and provides a better sustainable and economical solution.