Since the discovery of highly conducting polyacetylene by Shirakawa, MacDiarmid, and Heeger in 1977, π-conjugated systems have attracted much attention as futuristic materials for the development and production of the next generation of electronics, that is, organic electronics. Conceptually, organic electronics are quite different from conventional inorganic solid state electronics because the structural versatility of organic semiconductors allows for the incorporation of functionality by molecular design. This versatility leads to a new era in the design of electronic devices. To date, the great number of π-conjugated semiconducting materials that have either been discovered or synthesized generate an exciting library of π-conjugated systems for use in organic electronics. 11 However, some key challenges for further advancement remain: the low mobility and stability of organic semiconductors, the lack of knowledge regarding structure property relationships for understanding the fundamental chemical aspects behind the structural design, and realization of desired properties. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are a kind of device consisting of an organic semiconducting layer, a gate insulator layer, and three terminals (drain, source, and gate electrodes). OFETs are not only essential building blocks for the next generation of cheap and flexible organic circuits, but they also provide an important insight into the charge transport of πconjugated systems. Therefore, they act as strong tools for the exploration of the structure property relationships of πconjugated systems, such as parameters of field-effect mobility (μ, the drift velocity of carriers under unit electric field), current on/off ratio (the ratio of the maximum on-state current to the minimum off-state current), and threshold voltage (the minimum gate voltage that is required to turn on the transistor). 17 Since the discovery of OFETs in the 1980s, they have attracted much attention. Research onOFETs includes the discovery, design, and synthesis of π-conjugated systems for OFETs, device optimization, development of applications in radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, flexible displays, electronic papers, sensors, and so forth. It is beyond the scope of this review to cover all aspects of π-conjugated systems; hence, our focus will be on the performance analysis of π-conjugated systems in OFETs. This should make it possible to extract information regarding the fundamental merit of semiconducting π-conjugated materials and capture what is needed for newmaterials and what is the synthesis orientation of newπ-conjugated systems. In fact, for a new science with many practical applications, the field of organic electronics is progressing extremely rapidly. For example, using “organic field effect transistor” or “organic field effect transistors” as the query keywords to search the Web of Science citation database, it is possible to show the distribution of papers over recent years as shown in Figure 1A. It is very clear

Semiconducting π-conjugated systems in field-effect transistors: a material odyssey of organic electronics.

A review was presented to demonstrate a historical description of the synthesis of light-emitting conjugated polymers for applications in electroluminescent devices. Electroluminescence (EL) was first reported in poly(para-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) in 1990 and researchers continued to make significant efforts to develop conjugated materials as the active units in light-emitting devices (LED) to be used in display applications. Conjugated oligomers were used as luminescent materials and as models for conjugated polymers in the review. Oligomers were used to demonstrate a structure and property relationship to determine a key polymer property or to demonstrate a technique that was to be applied to polymers. The review focused on demonstrating the way polymer structures were made and the way their properties were controlled by intelligent and rational and synthetic design.

Synthesis of Light-Emitting Conjugated Polymers for Applications in Electroluminescent Devices

Electron and ambipolar transport in organic field-effect transistors.

Although known since the late 19th century, organic–inorganic perovskites have recently received extraordinary research community attention because of their unique physical properties, which make them promising candidates for application in photovoltaic (PV) and related optoelectronic devices. This review will explore beyond the current focus on three-dimensional (3-D) lead(II) halide perovskites, to highlight the great chemical flexibility and outstanding potential of the broader class of 3-D and lower dimensional organic-based perovskite family for electronic, optical, and energy-based applications as well as fundamental research. The concept of a multifunctional organic–inorganic hybrid, in which the organic and inorganic structural components provide intentional, unique, and hopefully synergistic features to the compound, represents an important contemporary target.

Organic–Inorganic Perovskites: Structural Versatility for Functional Materials Design

Organic semiconducting oligomers for use in thin film transistors.

We report highly photosensitive organic phototransistors (OPTs) based on a 2,5-bis-biphenyl-4-yl-thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (BPTT). The measured maximum sensitivity and the ratio of photocurrent to dark current (Iph∕Idark) in BPTT OPTs were 82A∕W and 2.0×105 under 380nm UV light with 1.55mW∕cm2, respectively. The prepared OPTs show a photocurrent response similar to the absorption spectrum of BPTT. The major mechanisms for photocurrent amplification in this device were verified from experimental results as photovoltaic (turn-on) and photocurrent effect (turn-off) by a fitting to theoretic equations.

High-photosensitivity p-channel organic phototransistors based on a biphenyl end-capped fused bithiophene oligomer

The regioregular highly head-to-tail-coupled poly(3-alkylthiophene) (HT-P3AT) films were prepared by a friction-transfer technique. Polarized UV−vis absorption spectroscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) were used to study the polymer molecular arrangement in the friction-transferred HT-P3AT films, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the film surface morphology. The polarized UV−vis absorption spectra show a large dichroism regarding the drawing direction of friction-transfer. The order parameter is evaluated close to unity, which is the ideal orientation state. GIXD measurements show that alkyl side chains lie in the film plane, and the polymer backbones are well-ordered along the drawing direction of friction-transfer within 10° for poly(3-hexylthiophene) and 13° for poly(3-dodecylthiophene) in the film plane. The polymer backbones form a layered structure with the stacking of thiophene rings normal to the film surface. The polymer molecules in the friction-transfe...

Backbone Arrangement in “Friction-Transferred” Regioregular Poly(3-alkylthiophene)s

Two-dimensional array of silver nanoparticles

Effect of Molecular Orientation of Epitaxially Grown Platinum(II) Octaethyl Porphyrin Films on the Performance of Field‐Effect Transistors

We report the performance of solution-processed n-type organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) based on C60 derivatives. Long-chain alkyl-substituted C60, C60-fused N-methylpyrrolidine-meta-C12 phenyl (C60MC12), was used as a semiconducting layer. The C60MC12-thin-film transistor shows high electron mobility of 0.067cm2∕Vs in saturation regime. From the result of x-ray diffraction analysis, the C60MC12 active layer forms highly ordered crystalline film. We found that self-assemble ability of long alkyl chains plays an important role for fabrication of highly ordered crystalline film, leading to achievement of high electron mobility in solution-processed n-type OTFTs.

Yuji Yoshida

Papers

High-photosensitivity p-channel organic phototransistors based on a biphenyl end-capped fused bithiophene oligomer

Backbone Arrangement in “Friction-Transferred” Regioregular Poly(3-alkylthiophene)s

Two-dimensional array of silver nanoparticles

Effect of Molecular Orientation of Epitaxially Grown Platinum(II) Octaethyl Porphyrin Films on the Performance of Field‐Effect Transistors

Solution-processed n-type organic thin-film transistors with high field-effect mobility