One-dimensional isomeric and hierarchical TiO2nanostructures: novel air stable semiconducting building blocks

One-dimensional (1D) semiconducting nanostructures, as both interconnections and functional units in fabricating electronic, biological/chemical sensors, optoelectronic, electrochemical, and electromechanical devices, attract immense interest. However, all those 1D semiconducting nanostructures are sensitive to both volatile organic compounds (VOFs) and relative humidity (RH), causing the instability of those devices operated in air (except in biological/chemical sensors). Herein, we demonstrated an effective route to not only stabilize 1D semiconducting nanostructures in air but also maintain their electrical properties by constructing 1D isomeric semiconducting nanorods on 1D semiconducting nanostructures to form 1D isomeric and hierarchical semiconducting nanostructures. 1D isomeric and hierarchical TiO2 nanostructures (IHTNs) were chosen as a model, both excellent air stability and good electrical properties can be achieved. With such IHTNs as building blocks, a stable field-effect transistor has been realized. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.