Anisotropy in the Mobility and Photogeneration of Charge Carriers in Thin Films of Discotic Hexabenzocoronenes, Columnarly Self‐Assembled on Friction‐Deposited Poly(tetrafluoroethylene)

Discotic derivatives of hexabenzocoronene macroscopically self‐align on friction‐deposited poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (see Figure for polarization microscopy image of a partially coated sample). Such films display highly anisotropic photoconductivity with charge transport along the columnar director favored by a factor of at least 20. The anisotropy in the optical absorption depends on the tilt angle of the aromatic core in the columns.