title: Novel alloy polymers formed from ortho-carborane and benzene or pyridine.
abstract: Polymer films have been formed by electron-induced cross-linking of condensed ortho-carborane and benzene (B(10)C(2)H(X):BNZ) or pyridine (B(10)C(2)H(X):py) at 110 K, followed by warming up to room temperature. High resolution core-level photoemission and molecular orbital calculations demonstrate that the reaction of the icosahedra with the aromatic group is site-specific: bonding occurs between a C atom on the aromatic group and a B site bound to other boron atoms on the icosahedron. This site specificity determines a systematic variation in the valence band maximum relative to the Fermi level from -4.3 eV for cross-linked ortho-carborane to -2.6 eV for B(10)C(2)H(X):BNZ and -2.2 eV for B(10)C(2)H(X):py. The results indicate the ability to form a new class of materials that are a cross between a molecular solid and a network polymer. Further, the electronic properties of these materials can be systematically tuned for a broad variety of applications in neutron detection, nano-electronics and spintronics.
authors: Department of Chemistry and Center for Electronic Materials Processing and Integration, 1155 Union Circle #305070, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA.
authors: Frank L
authors: FL
authors: Pasquale
authors: Yun
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Jincheng
authors: J
authors: Du
authors: Jeffry A
authors: JA
authors: Kelber