Air-Water Interface-Assisted Synthesis and Charge Transport Characterization of Quasi-2D Polyacetylene Films with Enhanced Electron Mobility via Ring-Opening Polymerization of Pyrrole

Water surfaces catalyze some organic reactions more effectively, making them unique for 2D organic material synthesis. This report introduces a new synthesis method via surfactant-monolayer-assisted interfacial synthesis on water surfaces for ring-opening polymerization of pyrrole, producing distinct polypyrrole derivatives with polyacetylene backbones and ionic substitutions. The synthesis result in quasi 2D polyacetylene (q2DPA) film with enhanced charge transport behavior. We employed time-of-flight photoconductivity (TOFP) measurements using pulsed laser light of tunable wavelength for photoexcitation of the charge carriers within the q2DPA film. The charge transport was measured in the lateral direction as a function of external bias voltage ranging from 0 V to 200 V. We observed high electron mobility (μ) of q2DPA reaching values of 375 cm2 V-1 s-1 at bias voltage Vb = -20V and photon energy of 3.8 eV.