Expanding benzene to giant graphenes: towards molecular devices

Phenylene-based conjugated materials provide versatile platforms for the development of molecular devices. Architectures of one- and two-dimensional polyphenylenes, which self-assemble into three-dimensional objects with advantageous electronic properties, have been investigated. Systematic relations between the size, substitution and shape with function were found, which enabled the further optimization of the materials. Hand in hand with the development of suitable methods for visualization and processing, promising results were obtained for performance of nanoscale electronic devices.