Semiconductor and molecular-assembly nanowires

Highly conducting nanowires are expected to be critical for functionalizing and integrating nanoscale electronic devices. Semiconductor nanowires are more important than metal nanowires from the viewpoint of device applications. Recent research on the preparation and fabrication of inorganic semiconductor nanowires were briefly reviewed. Molecular-assembly nanowires will have an important role in the complete bottom-up manufacture of molecular electronics, whose devices are built up from synthesized molecules through self-assembly processes. Such nanowires can be assembled from π-molecules through molecule-by-molecule π-stacking. Research on molecular conductors will offer guiding principles for constructing molecular nanowires with appropriate electronic properties. At the same time, supramolecular chemistry will offer powerful methods to build up molecular nanowires through self-assembly processes. Three kinds of molecular nanowires, tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-halide, crown-ether-fused phthalocyanine, and amphiphilic TTF macrocycle are introduced as molecular-assembly nanowires composed of molecular conductors.