An electrically conductive dinuclear aluminium complex for the fabrication of a Schottky diode

Md Akhtarul Alam; Anamika Hoque; Md Sanaul Islam; Nargis Khatun; Manash Pratim Sarmah; A K M Maidul Islam; Manabendra Sarma; Goutam Kumar Kole; Ennio Zangrando

doi:10.1039/d4ra07123a

An electrically conductive dinuclear aluminium complex for the fabrication of a Schottky diode

RSC Adv. 2025 Jan 22;15(3):2132-2139. doi: 10.1039/d4ra07123a. eCollection 2025 Jan 16.

Authors

Md Akhtarul Alam¹, Anamika Hoque¹, Md Sanaul Islam¹, Nargis Khatun², Manash Pratim Sarmah³, A K M Maidul Islam², Manabendra Sarma³, Goutam Kumar Kole⁴, Ennio Zangrando⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Aliah University Action Area IIA/27, New Town Kolkata 700160 India [email protected].
² Department of Physics, Aliah University Action Area IIA/27, New Town Kolkata 700160 India [email protected].
³ Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Assam 781039 India [email protected].
⁴ Department of Chemistry, SRM Institute of Science and Technology Kattankulathur Tamil Nadu 603203 India [email protected].
⁵ Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste Via L. Giorgieri 1 Trieste 34127 Italy [email protected].

Abstract

Electrical performances of a biphenyl-derived amido Schiff base ligand L and its dinuclear Al(iii) complex (complex 1) were investigated in a metal-semiconductor (MS) junction. Electrical studies revealed that complex 1 significantly enhanced the electrical conductivity and improved the characteristics of a Schottky barrier diode (SBD). The I-V characteristics demonstrated that complexation of ligand L with Al(iii) ion increased the conductivity by two orders of magnitude (conductivity of L = 1.04 × 10^-7 Sm^-1 and complex 1 = 1.04 × 10^-5 Sm^-1) with improved diode rectification ratio. Complex 1 extended itself to the 3D supramolecular array by virtue of the hydrogen bond, C-H⋯π(C) bond and π⋯π interactions. This significantly influenced the semiconducting behaviour of complex 1 and essentially improved the characteristics of SBD. The optical band gap of complex 1 and ligand L in the solid state was determined experimentally (2.63 eV and 3.04 eV, respectively) and compared with the theoretical value obtained from DFT calculations. Furthermore, DOS analysis explained the conductivity behavior of complex 1 in a logically better way.