Eugene Yau-Hin Hong

A Phosphole Oxide-Containing Organogold(III) Complex for Solution-Processable Resistive Memory Devices with Ternary Memory Performances

A novel class of luminescent phosphole oxide-containing alkynylgold(III) complex has been synthesized, characterized, and applied as active material in the fabrication of solution-processable resistive memory devices. Incorporation of the phosphole oxide moiety in gold(III) system has been demonstrated to provide an extra charge-trapping site, giving rise to intriguing ternary memory performances with distinct and low switching threshold voltages, high OFF/ON1/ON2 current ratio of 1/10(3)/10(7), and long retention time for the three states. The present study offers vital insights for the future development of multilevel memory devices using small-molecule organometallic compounds.

From spherical to leaf-like morphologies: tunable supramolecular assembly of alkynylgold(I) complexes through variations of the alkyl chain length.

A series of luminescent polynuclear alkynylgold(I) complexes with different lengths of alkyl chains attached at the N-heterocyclic carbene moieties has been synthesised and demonstrated to display intriguing self-assembly behaviours through a cooperative growth mechanism. Variation of the alkyl chain length was found to cause drastic morphological differences in the aggregates and to strongly affect the thermodynamic parameters as revealed by the nucleation-elongation model.

Triindole-Tris-Alkynyl-Bridged Trinuclear Gold(I) Complexes for Cooperative Supramolecular Self-Assembly and Small-Molecule Solution-Processable Resistive Memories

A novel class of luminescent trinuclear alkynylgold(I) complexes with N-alkyl substituted triindole ligands has been synthesized and characterized. They are found to exhibit rich photophysical and electrochemical properties. The complexes have been demonstrated to display interesting supramolecular assembly with spherical nanostructures in aqueous THF solution through a cooperative growth mechanism. The self-assembly process is shown to be mediated by the π-π stacking interactions and hydrophobic-hydrophobic interactions of the triindole moieties upon solvent modulation. These gold(I) complexes have been employed as active materials in the fabrication of solution-processable resistive memory devices, showing promising binary memory performances with low switching threshold voltages of ca. 1.5 V, high ON/OFF current ratio of up to 105, long retention time of over 104 s, and excellent stability. The present work opens up a new avenue for the future design of versatile organogold(I) complexes that could serve as multifunctional materials.

Supramolecular Self-Assembly and Dual-Switch Vapochromic, Vapoluminescent, and Resistive Memory Behaviors of Amphiphilic Platinum(II) Complexes

A series of amphiphilic platinum(II) complexes with tridentate N-donor ligands has been synthesized and characterized. Different supramolecular architectures are constructed using the amphiphilic molecules as the building blocks through the formation of Pt···Pt and π-π stacking interactions in aqueous media. The aggregation-deaggregation-aggregation self-assembly behavior together with obvious spectroscopic changes could be fine-tuned by the addition of THF in aqueous media. More interestingly, one of the complexes is found to show fast response and high selectivity toward alcohol and water vapors with good reversibility, leading to drastic color and luminescence changes, and hence unique dual switching behavior, with the water molecules readily displaced by the alcohol vapor. Rapid writing and erasure have been realized via the control of a jet or a stream of alcohol vapor flow. In addition, it has been employed as active materials in the fabrication of small-molecule solution-processable resistive memory devices, exhibiting stable and promising binary memory performance with threshold voltages of ca. 3.4 V, high ON/OFF ratios of up to 105 and long retention times of over 104 s. The vapochromic and vapoluminescent materials are demonstrated to have potential applications in chemosensing, logic gates, VOC monitoring, and memory functions.

Adaptive Coordination-Driven Supramolecular Syntheses toward New Polymetallic Cu(I) Luminescent Assemblies

A thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) tetrametallic Cu(I) metallacycle A behaves as a conformationally adaptive preorganized precursor to afford, through straightforward and rational coordination-driven supramolecular processes, a variety of room-temperature solid-state luminescent polymetallic assemblies. Reacting various cyano-based building blocks with A, a homometallic Cu(I) 1D-helical coordination polymer C and Cu8M discrete circular heterobimetallic assemblies DM (M = Ni, Pd, Pt) are obtained. Their luminescence behaviors are studied, revealing notably the crucial impact of the spin-orbit coupling offered by the central M metal center on the photophysical properties of the heterobimetallic DM derivatives.

Solvent-Induced and Temperature-Promoted Aggregation of Bipyridine Platinum(II) Triangular Metallacycles and Their Near-Infrared Emissive Behaviors

A series of bipyridine platinum(II) complexes with different sizes of triangular metallacycles and alkyl/oligoether chains has been synthesized and characterized. They are packed in a zig-zag fashion with the formation of dimeric structures according to their X-ray crystal structures. Different emission origins are observed due to the different sizes of the triangular ligands. Their morphologies could be tuned by the modification of the molecular structures with different metallacyclic alkynyl ligands and alkyl/oligoether chains and solvents. More interestingly, unusual electronic absorption changes and upfield shifts of the aromatic proton resonances are observed upon increasing the temperature, suggesting further aggregation of the architectures. Near-infrared (NIR) emission is also realized through the tuning of the π-π stacking, Pt⋅⋅⋅Pt interactions, and the packing of planar metallacycles.

Amphiphilic Carbazole-Containing Compounds with Lower Critical Solution Temperature Behavior for Supramolecular Self-Assembly and Solution-Processable Resistive Memories

The self-organization and resistive memory performances of a series of newly synthesized water-soluble amphiphilic carbazole derivatives have been explored. Temperature-dependent UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy has been conducted to study the isodesmic self-assembly mechanism of the carbazole-containing compounds. This class of compounds also exhibits interesting lower critical solution temperature properties, which are sensitive to concentration and ionic additives. One of the compounds has been solution-processed and utilized as an active material in the engineering of resistive memory devices, exhibiting a switching voltage of about 3.9 V, a constant ON/OFF current ratio of 106 , and a long retention time of 104  s. The present work demonstrates the versatile potential applications of water-soluble amphiphilic carbazole-containing compounds in supramolecular chemistry and resistive memory devices.