Efficient Charge Transport and Electronic Conduction in Organic Liquid Crystalline Semiconductor-Reduced Graphene...

Small weight percentages, 0.05≤ wt% ≤0.4, of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanoflakes are dispersed in the 2-(4'-octylphenyl)-6-dodecyloxynaphthalene (8-PNP-O12) liquid crystalline semiconducting material, and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics along with the charge transport mechanism in the smectic B (SmB) and smectic A (SmA) phases are investigated. It is a well-known fact that the mobility of charge carriers significantly depends on the molecular ordering of a mesophase; therefore, the correlation of charge transport with molecular geometry has been scrutinized by carrying out the polarized optical microscopy and small/wide-angle X-ray scattering and I-V measurements. Due to the improved π-π interactions between rGO nanoflakes and 8-PNP-O12, the composite matrix liberates a massive amount of charge carriers, leading to a tremendous increase in the conduction current from nA to μA. The 8-PNP-O12/rGO matrix is suitable for nonlinear organic electronics due to its superior charge transport properties.