Faculty Bibliography

The use of molecular materials for the development of novel electronic devices and sensors has attracted much attention recently. Virtually all previous molecular devices have been fabricated by organizing molecular species onto metal, semiconductor or insulator surfaces. In this chapter methods for preparing a series of composite molecule/superconductor devices are described. Thin films of the high-T-c superconductor, YBa2Cu3O7-delta, are coated with a selection of molecular dyes to form a series of light sensors. In this context, the dye layer serves both to enhance the responsivity to light of the composite device and to provide wavelength selectivity to the structure. In addition, the preparation and operation of a number of conductive polymer coated superconductor structures are described. Electrochemical techniques are exploited to alter the oxidation state of these polymers and, in doing so, it is found for the first time that superconductivity can be modulated in a controllable and reproducible fashion by a polymer layer. Thus, a new type of molecular switch for controlling superconductivity is demonstrated.