Organic (opto)electronic materials have received considerable attention due to their applications in thin-film-transistors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, sensors, photorefractive devices, and many others. The technological promises include low cost of these materials and the possibility of their room-temperature deposition from solution on large-area and/or flexible substrates. The article reviews the current understanding of the physical mechanisms that determine the (opto)electronic properties of high-performance organic materials. The focus of the review is on photoinduced processes and on electronic properties important for optoelectronic applications relying on charge carrier photogeneration. Additionally, it highlights the capabilities of various experimental techniques for characterization of these materials, summarizes top-of-the-line device performance, and outlines recent trends in the further development of the field. The properties of materials based both on small molecules and on conjug...

Organic Optoelectronic Materials: Mechanisms and Applications

We design and synthesize two isomeric fused-ring electron acceptors, FNIC1 and FNIC2, which have the same end-groups and side-chains, but isomeric fused-nine-ring cores. Subtle changes in the two isomers influence their electronic, optical, charge-transport, and morphological properties. As compared with FNIC1, FNIC2 film exhibits a red-shifted absorption peak at 794 nm (752 nm for FNIC1), larger electron affinity of 4.00 eV (3.92 eV for FNIC1), smaller ionization energy of 5.56 eV (5.61 eV for FNIC1), and higher electron mobility of 1.7 × 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1 (1.2 × 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1 for FNIC1). The as-cast organic solar cells based on PTB7-Th:FNIC2 blends exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.0%, which is significantly higher than that of PTB7-Th:FNIC1-based devices (10.3%). Semitransparent devices based on PTB7-Th:FNIC2 blends exhibit PCEs varying from 9.51% to 11.6% at different average visible transmittance (AVT, 20.3- 13.6%), significantly higher than those of PTB7-Th:FNIC1-based devices (7.58-9.14% with AVT of 20.2- 14.7%).

Effect of Isomerization on High-Performance Nonfullerene Electron Acceptors

Thin-film metal oxides are among the key materials used in organic semiconductor devices. As there are no intrinsic charge carriers in a typical organic semiconductor, all charges in the device must be injected from electrode/organic interfaces, whose energetic structure consequentially dictates the performance of devices. The energy barrier at the interface depends critically on the work function of the electrode. For this reason, various types of thin-film metal oxides can be used as a buffer layer to modify the electrode work function. This paper provides a review on recent progress in metal oxide/organic interface energetics, oxide valence structure and work function, as well as the impact of defects and interfacial reactions on oxide work functions. This review provides a rational guide to process engineers in selecting the best suitable electrode/oxide structures for a targeted applications. Organic semiconductors offer an attractive alternative to the traditional, silicon-based components of electronic devices. Cheaper to produce and more sustainable, they can also introduce different attributes, such as flexibility, to these devices. However, as organic materials do not typically possess intrinsic charge carriers — electrons or holes — all charges in the device must originate from the electrode and pass through the electrode-organic material interface, a process hindered by an energy barrier. Mark Greiner and Zheng-Hong Lu review recent achievements in a versatile class of buffer layer — thin films of transition metal oxides — that can be positioned between the two materials to reduce the energy barrier that limits charge injection. The researchers discuss how to select the most suitable metal oxide for a specific purpose, and then tune the thin film's properties by adjusting the thickness of the metal oxide layer, the oxidation state of its cations and the concentration of its defects. Over the last decade, metal oxides have proven to be important materials for organic electronics. Oxides are often used as charge-injection and charge-selective interlayers to engineer the electrical resistance at electrode/organic interfaces in organic devices. An oxide’s behavior as an interlayer depends strongly on the oxide’s electronic properties—such as its band structure and work function. The numerous degrees of freedom in an oxide’s electronic properties allow these characteristics to be easily modified. The present review outlines the use of metal oxides in organic electronics, and discusses the factors that affect the oxide’s properties that are relevant to oxide/organic interfaces.

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Thin-film metal oxides in organic semiconductor devices: their electronic structures, work functions and interfaces

Molybdenum oxide is used as a low-resistance anode interfacial layer in applications such as organic light emitting diodes and organic photovoltaics. However, little is known about the correlation between its stoichiometry and electronic properties, such as work function and occupied gap states. In addition, despite the fact that the knowledge of the exact oxide stoichiometry is of paramount importance, few studies have appeared in the literature discussing how this stoichiometry can be controlled to permit the desirable modification of the oxide’s electronic structure. This work aims to investigate the beneficial role of hydrogenation (the incorporation of hydrogen within the oxide lattice) versus oxygen vacancy formation in tuning the electronic structure of molybdenum oxides while maintaining their high work function. A large improvement in the operational characteristics of both polymer light emitting devices and bulk heterojunction solar cells incorporating hydrogenated Mo oxides as hole injection/ex...

The influence of hydrogenation and oxygen vacancies on molybdenum oxides work function and gap states for application in organic optoelectronics.

TiO2 loaded with Au–Ag bimetallic alloy particles efficiently produces H2O2 from an O2-saturated ethanol/water mixture under UV irradiation. This is achieved via the double effects created by the alloy particles. One is the efficient photocatalytic reduction of O2 on the Au atoms promoting enhanced H2O2 formation, due to the efficient separation of photoformed electron–hole pairs at the alloy/TiO2 heterojunction. Second is the suppressed photocatalytic decomposition of formed H2O2 due to the decreased adsorption of H2O2 onto the Au atoms.

Photocatalytic H2O2 Production from Ethanol/O2 System Using TiO2 Loaded with Au–Ag Bimetallic Alloy Nanoparticles

A Hybrid Inorganic–Organic Semiconductor Light‐Emitting Diode Using ZrO2 as an Electron‐Injection Layer

A Multilayered Polymer Light‐Emitting Diode Using a Nanocrystalline Metal‐Oxide Film as a Charge‐Injection Electrode

Organic solar cells have many merits, including low cost and the ability to cover large and flexible substrates, yet there is much room to improve them. To maximize their efficiency, this study investigates the effects of surface recombination in a model system, in which the work function of electrode contacts is varied via oxygen-plasma treatment. The authors explain how changing the properties of the contact has a profound effect not only on device efficiency, but also on the interpretation of optoelectronic measurements of these devices.

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Influence of Surface Recombination on Charge-Carrier Kinetics in Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with Nickel Oxide Interlayers

The PM6:Y6 bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) blend system achieves high short-circuit current (JSC) values in thick photovoltaic junctions. Here we analyse these solar cells to understand the observed independence of the short-circuit current upon photoactive layer thickness. We employ a range of optoelectronic measurements and analyses, including Mott–Schottky analysis, CELIV, photoinduced absorption spectroscopy, mobility measurements and simulations, to conclude that, the invariant photocurrent for the devices with different active layer thicknesses is associated with the Y6's diffusion length exceeding 300 nm in case of a 300 nm thick cell. This is despite unintentional doping that occurs in PM6 and the associated space-charge effect, which is expected to be even more profound upon photogeneration. This extraordinarily long diffusion length – which is an order of magnitude larger than typical values for organics – dominates transport in the flat-band region of thick junctions. Our work suggests that the performance of the doped PM6:Y6 organic solar cells resembles that of inorganic devices with diffusion transport playing a pivotal role. Ultimately, this is expected to be a key requirement for the fabrication of efficient, high-photocurrent, thick organic solar cells.

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Extraordinarily long diffusion length in PM6:Y6 organic solar cells

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/solr.202000498

N.S. Tokmoldin

Papers

A Hybrid Inorganic–Organic Semiconductor Light‐Emitting Diode Using ZrO2 as an Electron‐Injection Layer

A Multilayered Polymer Light‐Emitting Diode Using a Nanocrystalline Metal‐Oxide Film as a Charge‐Injection Electrode

Influence of Surface Recombination on Charge-Carrier Kinetics in Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with Nickel Oxide Interlayers

Extraordinarily long diffusion length in PM6:Y6 organic solar cells

Putting Order into PM6:Y6 Solar Cells to Reduce the Langevin Recombination in 400 nm Thick Junction