ABSTRACT
Green chemistry and green nanotechnology are two exciting fields in material sciences and represent state-of-the-art disciplines in the development of advanced third and fourth-generation energy technologies (solar power, energy harvesting and advanced microelectronics). The nanomaterials and exotic materials, which are explored in this quest, provide insulating and conducting properties in nanosensors, nanounits and nanocircuits as well as advanced energy transfer and storage properties. Many solutions involve the use of metal alloys including rare and expensive metals (Gold, Platinum, Silver, Cerium and Europium) and evolve around the special energetic properties of crystals and their conductive characters. Many of these metals, such as Cadmium and Gallium-Arsenide, imply though toxicity issues and severe environmental hazards. Carbon clusters and carbon chains are on the other hand inexpensive, poorly – if not, nontoxic and have electronic properties with direct relevance to develop green nanocircuits and nanomaterials. Arranged in a specific and polymerized manner, carbon atoms can satisfy the 4n/4n+2 p-electron localization/delocalization rule, which has the potential to be the basis for semiconducting or conducting nanowires. With their hybrid electronic potential, carbon-based organic polymers with 4n/4n+2 resonance can thus give unique tunable electronic properties. At the same time, these molecular ensembles have the potential to be both recyclable and biodegradable, and when encapsulated in carbon nanotubes, be physically elastic compared to metal-based nanowires and potentially provide appealing band-gap effects. This study reviews the literature on specific carbon-based conductive polymers, as well as the approaches for encapsulation of oligomers and molecules. The study also includes a brief quantum chemical analysis of five exemplary 4n/4n+2 oligomers for future development of encapsulated alternant conjugated organic structures as tunable carbon-based conductive nanowires, and shows important correlations between the oligomer chemistry, LUMO orbitals, SOMO and HOMO energies and their electronic excitability. The chapter illustrates the intriguing combination of properties of nanomaterials, the principles of organic oligomer chemistry and the method of computational quantum chemistry to provide and stimulate the knowledge of new conductive and green materials.
