Synthesis of Poly(4-((phenylimino)methyl)benzene-1,2,3-triol) and Its Application for Improving the Heterostructure Device Characteristics

A trihydroxy substituted poly(4-((phenylimino)methyl)benzene-1,2,3-triol) abbreviated as poly(2,3,4-PIMB), poly(phenoxy-imine)-type polymer, has been successfully synthesized by oxidative coupling polymerization in an aqueous alkaline medium using sodium hypochlorite. Detailed structural characterization of the phenoxy-imine type monomer and its polymer were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis), and gel permeation chromatography spectroscopy techniques. According to these analyses, the synthesized polymer has its backbone made of oxyphenylene linkages only. The solubility, thermal stability, electrochemical, and optic features of the polymer and its monomer were also evaluated. Furthermore, seven Ni/poly(2,3,4-PIMB)/p-Si/Al heterostructure devices were fabricated, and they showed good rectifying behavior such that the ideality factor and the barrier height values ranged from 1.54 eV to 1.78 eV and from 0.62 eV to 0.67 eV, respectively. The capacitance–voltage measurements of one Ni/poly(2,3,4-PIMB)/p-Si/Al heterostructure device were also analyzed.