Efficient Charge Transport and Electronic Conduction in Organic Liquid Crystalline Semiconductor‐Reduced Graphene Oxide Hybrid Assembly with Controlled Microscale Morphologies

2-(4’-octylphenyl)-6-dodecyloxynaphthalene (8-PNP-O12) liquid crystalline semiconductor material exhibits p-type behavior with an excellent hole mobility of the order of 10⁻³ cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹; however, electrical conductivity limits its organic electronic applications. The small dispersion of rGO can cop with this problem by enhancing the electrical conductivity by many folds owing to an enhanced π–π interactions.

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.

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