Temperature-Dependent Current–Voltage and Photoresponsive Properties for Semiconducting Nanodevices Fabricated from an Oligothiazole Dithiol and Gold Nanoparticles

A rigid oligothiazole dithiol molecule (3) is first introduced to fabricate the self-assembled granular thin films with gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) covering 1 μm gap gold electrodes by means of the Au−S bonded contacts, where the
nanocomposite thin films prepared from different concentrations of dithiol 3 and Au-NPs (1.0, 0.5, and 0.1 mmol/L) exhibit
temperature-dependent semiconducting I−V behavior in the order of μA, nA, and pA and photoresponsive properties in the
temperature range 8−300 K. Compared with the nanodevices fabricated from similar oligothiophene dithiols, it is interesting to
mention that the oligothiazole dithiol based ones show analogous morphologies and temperature-dependent I−V characteristics
but enhanced photoresponsvie properties, which may arise from the improved charge separation ability of oligothiazole in
stabilizing the photogenerated electron carriers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which an oligothiazole
dithiol molecule acts as a bridging unit to link Au-NPs exhibiting photoresponse properties in the solid state.