Superlattices of organic/inorganic semiconductor nanostructures from liquid-crystal templates

A lyotropic liquid-crystal-templated superlattice of inorganic CdSe semiconductor nanostructures within an organic semiconductor polymer-network film was fabricated by a self-assembly process. The film is characterized with small-angle x-ray diffraction experiments and ultraviolet-visible absorption measurements. Empirical pseudopotential calculations of the effective CdSe nanocrystal band gap show that the experimental observations are consistent with the formation of CdSe nanostructures inside lyotropic liquid-crystal nanotubes. A potential application of these nanocomposite supramolecular arrays is demonstrated via a photoconductive device.