Browsing by Author "Tamer, Ugur"

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Citation - WoS: 68
Citation - Scopus: 68
Micro-/Nanostructured Highly Crystalline Organic Semiconductor Films for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Applications
(Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, 2015) Yilmaz, Mehmet; Ozdemir, Mehmet; Erdogan, Hakan; Tamer, Ugur; Sen, Unal; Facchetti, Antonio; Demirel, Gokhan
The utilization of inorganic semiconductors for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has attracted enormous interest. However, despite the technological relevance of organic semiconductors for enabling inexpensive, large-area, and flexible devices via solution processing techniques, these p-conjugated systems have never been investigated for SERS applications. Here for the first time, a simple and versatile approach is demonstrated for the fabrication of novel SERS platforms based on micro-/nanostructured 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1] benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) thin films via an oblique-angle vapor deposition. The morphology of C8-BTBT thin films is manipulated by varying the deposition angle, thus achieving highly favorable 3D vertically aligned ribbon-like micro-/nanostructures for a 90 degrees deposition angle. By combining C8-BTBT semiconductor films with a nanoscopic thin Au layer, remarkable SERS responses are achieved in terms of enhancement (approximate to 10(8)), stability (>90 d), and reproducibility (RSD < 0.14), indicating the great promise of Au/C8-BTBT films as SERS platforms. Our results demonstrate the first example of an organic semiconductor-based SERS platform with excellent detection characteristics, indicating that p-conjugated organic semiconductors have a great potential for SERS applications.
Citation - WoS: 261
Citation - Scopus: 271
Nanostructured Organic Semiconductor Films for Molecular Detection With Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
(Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Yilmaz, Mehmet; Babur, Esra; Ozdemir, Mehmet; Gieseking, Rebecca L.; Dede, Yavuz; Tamer, Ugur; Demirel, Gokhan
pi-Conjugated organic semiconductors have been explored in several optoelectronic devices, yet their use in molecular detection as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-active platforms is unknown. Herein, we demonstrate that SERS-active, superhydrophobic and ivy-like nanostructured films of a molecular semiconductor, alpha,omega-diperfluorohexylquaterthiophene (DFH-4T), can be easily fabricated by vapour deposition. DFH-4T films without any additional plasmonic layer exhibit unprecedented Raman signal enhancements up to 3.4 x 10(3) for the probe molecule methylene blue. The combination of quantum mechanical computations, comparative experiments with a fluorocarbon-free alpha,omega-dihexylquaterthiophene (DH-4T), and thin-film microstructural analysis demonstrates the fundamental roles of the pi-conjugated core fluorocarbon substitution and the unique DFH-4T film morphology governing the SERS response. Furthermore, Raman signal enhancements up to similar to 10(10) and sub-zeptomole (< 10(-21) mole) analyte detection were accomplished by coating the DFH-4T films with a thin gold layer. Our results offer important guidance for the molecular design of SERS-active organic semiconductors and easily fabricable SERS platforms for ultrasensitive trace analysis.