Electronic microdevices of self-bending coronene crystals are developed to reveal an unexplored link between mechanical deformation and crystal function. First, a facile approach towards length/width/curvature-controllable micro-crystals through bottom-up solution crystallization was proposed for high processability and stability. The bending crystal devices show a significant increase beyond seven orders of magnitude in conductivity than the straight ones, providing the first example of deformation-induced function enhancement in crystal materials. Besides, double effects caused by bending, including the change of π electron level as well as the enhancement of carrier mobility, were determined, respectively by the X-ray photoelectric spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography to coexist, contributing to the conductivity improvement. Our findings will promote future creation of flexible organic crystal systems with deformation-enhanced functional features towards customized smart devices.
Keywords: coronenes; crystal engineering; electronic micro-devices; flexible organic single crystals; mechanical properties.
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