The role of size and coating in Au nanoparticles incorporated into bi-component polymeric thin-film transistors.

We describe the effect of blending poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the performance of organic thin-film transistors. To this end we have used AuNPs of two different sizes coated with chemisorbed SAMs of oligophenyl-thiols possessing increasing lengths. The electrical characteristics of the hybrid materials revealed changes in the field-effect mobility depending primarily on the AuNP size, as a result of the variable energy level of the coated metallic nanocluster and by the degree of modification of the P3HT crystalline structure.