TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The substrate is hydrophilic and/or hydrophobic. The substrate includes a material consisting of glass, a doped glass, indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass, silicon, a doped silicon, silicon(100), silicon(111), silicon dioxide, silicon hydride, silicon carbide mirror, quartz, a metal, metal oxide, a mixture of metal and metal oxide, group IV elements, mica, a polymer such as polyacrylamide and polystyrene, a plastic, a zeolite, a clay, wood, a membrane, an optical fiber, a ceramic, a metalized ceramic, an alumina, an electrically-conductive material, a semiconductor, steel or a stainless steel. The substrate is in the form of beads, microparticles, nanoparticles, quantum dots or nanotubes. The substrate is optically transparent to the UV, infrared (IR), near-IR and/or visible spectral ranges. The redox-active compound is a metal, modified nanoparticle or quantum dot, organometallic compound, metal-organic, organic or polymeric material, inorganic material, metal complex and/or organic molecule. The metal is a transition metal, lanthanide, actinide, or main group element metal. The transition metal is osmium, ruthenium, iron, platinum, palladium, nickel, iridium, rhodium, cobalt, copper, rhenium, technetium, manganese, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, zirconium, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium, scandium, silver, gold or yttrium. The lanthanide is lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium or lutetium. The actinide is actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium or lawrencium. The main group element metal is zinc, gallium, germanium, aluminum, cadmium, indium, tin, antimony, mercury, thallium or lead. The redox-active compound is a tris-bipyridyl complex of the transition metal, a terpyridyl complex of the transition metal, a complex of a porphyrin, corrole or chlorophyll with the transition metal. The redox-active compound is a tris-bipyridyl complex of ruthenium, osmium, iron or cobalt. The redox-active compound is a tris-bipyridyl complex of formula (I), preferably (IA)-(IC)M = transition metal, preferably Ru, Os or Co;n = formal oxidation state of the transition metal, which is 0-4, preferably 2;X = counter anion consisting of Br-, Cl-, F-, I-, PF6- (preferred), BF4-, OH-, ClO4-, SO3-, SO4-, CF3COO-, CN-, alkyl-COO- and/or aryl-COO-; eitherR2-R25 = H (preferred), halo, OH, azido, nitro, CN, amino (optionally substituted), thiol, 1-10C alkyl, cycloalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, carboxamido, carboxy, protected carboxy, protected amino, sulfonyl, substituted aryl, substituted cycloalkyl, substituted heterocycloalkyl, or substituted pyridyl moiety of formula (A1), where at least two, preferably three of R2-R25 is (A1), and (A1) is linked to the ring structure of (I) by R1, preferably R2, R4-R7, R9, R10, R12-R15, R17, R18, R20-R23, and R25 is H, R3, R11 and R19 are methyl, R8, R16 and R24 is (A1) ; orany two vicinal R2-R25 together with C = fused ring system such as cycloalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, heteroaryl or aryl (all optionally containing at least one N, O or S, and all optionally substituted by at least one 1-10C alkyl, aryl, azido, cycloalkyl, halo, heterocycloalkyl, alkoxy, hydroxy, haloalkyl, heteroaryl, alkenyl, alkynyl, nitro, cyano, amino (optionally substituted), carboxamido (optionally substituted), carboxy, protected carboxy, protected amino, thiol, sulfonyl or substituted aryl); andR1 = cis/trans C=C (preferred), CC, N=N, C=N, N=C, C-N, N-C, alkylene and/or arylene.The inorganic material is tungsten oxide, iridium oxide, vanadium oxide, nickel oxide, molybdenum oxide, titanium oxide, manganese oxide, niobium oxide, copper oxide, tantalum oxide, rhenium oxide, rhodium oxide, ruthenium oxide, iron oxide, chromium oxide, cobalt oxide, cerium oxide, bismuth oxide, tin oxide, praseodymium, bismuth, lead, silver, lanthanide hydrides (LaH2/LaH3), nickel doped strontium titanate, indium nitride, ruthenium dithiolene, phosphotungstic acid, ferrocene-naphthalimides dyads and/or organic ruthenium complexes.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The electrical read-out is carried out by an electrochemical technique such as cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, current-voltage changes, and conductivity changes, and the optical read-out is carried out in the UV, IR, near-IR, or visible region or by fluorescence spectroscopy. In the device, the thickness of each molecular component is less than 8 nm. The device is fabricated as a solid state device and further comprises an electrolyte and an electrical conductive electrode, where the electrical conductive electrode is fabricated on top of the assembly of at least one molecular component. The electrolyte is a conductive polymer, gel electrolyte or liquid electrolyte.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The organic molecule is a thiophene, quinone, porphyrin, corrole, chlorophyll, a vinylpyridine derivative such as 1,3,5-tris(4-ethenylpyridyl)benzene and 1,4-bis(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)benzene, and/or a pyridylethylbenzene derivative such as 1,3,5-tris(2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl)benzene. The organic or metal-organic material is: viologen (4,4'-bipyridylium salts) or its derivatives; azole compounds; aromatic amines; carbazoles; cyanines; methoxybiphenyls; quinones; thiazines; pyrazolines; tetracyanoquinodimethanes; tetrathiafulvalene; metal coordination complex, where the complex is (Q(II)(2,2'-bipyridine)3)2+ or (Q(II)(2,2'-bipyridine)2(4-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine-pyridine))2+, where Q is iron, ruthenium, osmium, nickel, chromium, copper, rhodium, iridium or cobalt; or a polypyridyl metal complex such as tris(4-(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenylj-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine osmium(II) bis(hexafluorophosphate), tris(4-(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine cobalt(II) bis(hexafluorophosphate), tris(4-(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II)bis-(hexafluorophosphate), bis(2,2'-bipyridine) (4'-methyl-4-(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine) osmium(II) (bis(hexafluorophosphate)/diiodide), bis(2,2'-bipyridine) (4'-methyl-4-(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine) ruthenium(II) (bis(hexafluorophosphate)/di-iodide), bis(2,2'-bipyridine)(4'-methyl-4-(2-(4-(3-propyl trimethoxysilane)pyridinium)ethenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine) osmium(II) (tris(hexafluorophosphate)/tri-iodide) or bis(2,2'-bipyridine)(4'-methyl-4-(2-(4-(3-propyltrimethoxysilane) pyridinium)ethenyl)-2,2'-bipyridine) ruthenium(II) (tris(hexafluorophosphate)/tri-iodide); metallophthalocyanines or porphyrins in mono, sandwich or polymeric forms; metal hexacyanometallates; dithiolene complexes of nickel, palladium or platinum; dioxylene complexes of osmium or ruthenium; mixed-valence complexes of ruthenium, osmium or iron; or their derivatives. The viologen is methyl viologen (MV), and the azole compound is 4,4'-(1E,1E')-4,4'-sulfonylbis(4,1-phenylene)bis(diazene-2,1-diyl)bis(N,N-dimethylaniline). The polymeric material is a conducting polymer such as a polypyrrole, a polydioxypyrrole, a polythiophene, a polyselenophene, a polyfuran, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), a polyaniline, a poly(acetylene), a poly(p-phenylene sulfide), a poly(p-phenylene vinylene), a polyindole, a polypyrene, a polycarbazole, a polyazulene, a polyazepine, a poly(fluorene), a polynaphthalene, a polyfuran, a metallopolymeric film based on a polypyridyl complex or polymeric viologen system comprising pyrrole-substituted viologen pyrrole, a disubstituted viologen, N,N'-bis(3-pyrrol-1-ylpropyl)-4,4'-bipyridilium, or their derivatives. The redox-active compound is an electrochromic compound. The molecular component comprises preferably two entities, such as (IA)-(IC), 1,3,5-tris(4-ethenylpyridyl)benzene, 1,4-bis(2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl)benzene and 1,3,5-tris(2-(pyridin-4-yl)ethyl)benzene, preferably one of the entities is (IB) and the other entity is (IA). The molar ratio between the entities is 1:1-1:10.