@article{0e5796a7ab274b82abded6dacb44884a,
title = "Light-responsive organic flashing electron ratchet",
abstract = "Ratchets are nonequilibrium devices that produce directional motion of particles from nondirectional forces without using a bias, and are responsible for many types of biological transport, which occur with high yield despite strongly damped and noisy environments. Ratchets operate by breaking time-reversal and spatial symmetries in the direction of transport through application of a time-dependent potential with repeating, asymmetric features. This work demonstrates the ratcheting of electrons within a highly scattering organic bulk-heterojunction layer, and within a device architecture that enables the application of arbitrarily shaped oscillating electric potentials. Light is used to modulate the carrier density, which modifies the current with a nonmonotonic response predicted by theory. This system is driven with a single unbiased sine wave source, enabling the future use of natural oscillation sources such as electromagnetic radiation.",
keywords = "Charge transport, Nonequilibrium, Organic semiconductor, Ratchet",
author = "Ofer Kedem and Bryan Lau and Ratner, {Mark A.} and Weiss, {Emily A.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Dr. Mario Tagliazucchi, Dr. Igal Szleifer, and Dr. Mark C. Hersam for helpful discussions. This material is based upon work supported as part of the Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0000989. This work used Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB), supported by the State of Illinois, the Materials Processing and Micro-fabrication Facility at Northwestern University, supported by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) (DMR-1121262), and the Electron Probe Instrumentation Center (EPIC), Scanned Probe Imaging and Development (SPID), and Keck-II facilities of the Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center (NUANCE), which receives support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental Resource (NSF Grant NNCI-1542205); the MRSEC program; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois.",
year = "2017",
month = aug,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.1705973114",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "114",
pages = "8698--8703",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "33",
}