Phosphorus‐Containing Materials for Organic Electronics

Phosphorus‐based materials have received widespread attention in recent years, in particular as possible candidates for practical application in organic electronics. The geometry and electronic nature of phosphorus make it a favorable heteroatom for property tuning in order to obtain better performing organic electronics. This Focus Review discusses recent structural modifications and syntheses of phosphorus‐based materials, illustrates property tuning at the same time, and highlights specific examples for device applications.     

Z‐Shaped Pentaleno‐Acene Dimers with High Stability and Small Band Gap

Acene‐based materials have promising applications for organic electronics but the major constrain comes from their poor stability. Herein a new strategy to stabilize reactive acenes, by fusion of an anti‐aromatic pentalene unit onto the zigzag edges of two acene units to form a Z‐shaped acene dimer, is introduced. The Z‐shaped acene dimers are extremely stable and show a small energy gap resulting from intramolecular donor–acceptor interactions. X‐ray crystallographic analysis revealed their unique geometry and one‐dimensional slip‐stack columnar structure. Besides optical and electrochemical characterizations, solution‐processed field‐effect transistors were also fabricated.     

Electrochromic Poly(chalcogenoviologen)s as Anode Materials for High‐Performance Organic Radical Lithium‐Ion Batteries

A series of electrochromic electron‐accepting poly(chalcogenoviologen)s with multiple, stable, and reversible redox centers were used as anodic materials in organic radical lithium‐ion batteries (ORLIBs). The introduction of heavy atoms (S, Se, and Te) into the viologen scaffold significantly improved the capacity and cycling stability of the ORLIBs. Notably, the poly(Te‐BnV) anode was able to intercalate 20 Li ions and showed higher conductivity and insolubility in the electrolyte, thus contributing to a reversible capacity of 502 mAh g^?1 at 100 mA g^?1 when the Coulombic efficiency approached 100 %. The charged/discharged state of flexible electrochromic batteries fabricated from these anodic materials could be monitored visually owing to the unique electrochromic and redox properties of the materials. This study opens a promising avenue for the development of organic polymer‐based electrodes for flexible hybrid visual electronics.     

Synthesis,Structure, and Air‐stable N‐type Field‐Effect Transistor Behaviors of Functionalized Octaazanonacene‐8,19‐dione

Increasing the length of N‐heteroacenes or their analogues is highly desirable because such materials could have great potential applications in organic electronics. In this report, the large π‐conjugated N‐heteroquinone 6,10,17,21‐tetra‐((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)‐5,7,9,11,16,18,20,22‐octaazanonacene‐8,19‐dione (OANQ) has been synthesized and characterized. The as‐prepared OANQ shows high stability under ambient conditions and has a particularly low LUMO level, which leads to it being a promising candidate for air‐stable n‐type field‐effect transistors (FETs). In fact, FET devices based on OANQ single crystals have been fabricated and an electron mobility of up to 0.2 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ under ambient conditions is reported. More importantly, no obvious degradation was observed even after one month. Theoretical calculations based on the single crystal are consistent with the measured mobility.     

Synthesis,Structure, and Air‐stable N‐type Field‐Effect Transistor Behaviors of Functionalized Octaazanonacene‐8,19‐dione

Increasing the length of N‐heteroacenes or their analogues is highly desirable because such materials could have great potential applications in organic electronics. In this report, the large π‐conjugated N‐heteroquinone 6,10,17,21‐tetra‐((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)‐5,7,9,11,16,18,20,22‐octaazanonacene‐8,19‐dione (OANQ) has been synthesized and characterized. The as‐prepared OANQ shows high stability under ambient conditions and has a particularly low LUMO level, which leads to it being a promising candidate for air‐stable n‐type field‐effect transistors (FETs). In fact, FET devices based on OANQ single crystals have been fabricated and an electron mobility of up to 0.2 cm² V^?1 s^?1 under ambient conditions is reported. More importantly, no obvious degradation was observed even after one month. Theoretical calculations based on the single crystal are consistent with the measured mobility.     

Combining Fullerenes and Zwitterions in Non‐Conjugated Polymer Interlayers to Raise Solar Cell Efficiency

Polymer zwitterions were synthesized by nucleophilic ring‐opening of 3,3′‐(but‐2‐ene‐1,4‐diyl)bis(1,2‐oxathiolane 2,2‐dioxide) (a bis‐sultone) with functional perylene diimide (PDI) or fullerene monomers. Integration of these polymers into solar cell devices as cathode interlayers boosted efficiencies of fullerene‐based organic photovoltaics (OPVs) from 2.75 % to 10.74 %, and of non‐fullerene‐based OPVs from 4.25 % to 10.10 %, demonstrating the versatility of these interlayer materials in OPVs. The fullerene‐containing polymer zwitterion ( C₆₀‐PZ ) showed a higher interfacial dipole (Δ) value and electron mobility than its PDI counterpart ( PDI‐PZ ), affording solar cells with high efficiency. The power of PDI‐PZ and C₆₀‐PZ to improve electron injection and extraction processes when positioned between metal electrodes and organic semiconductors highlights their promise to overcome energy barriers at the hard‐soft materials interface of organic electronics.     

Transformation of Metal‐Organic Frameworks into Stable Organic Frameworks with Inherited Skeletons and Catalytic Properties

Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are an emerging class of porous materials with attractive properties, however, their practical applications are heavily hindered by their fragile nature. We report herein an effective strategy to transform fragile coordination bonds in MOFs into stable covalent organic bonds under mild annealing decarboxylative coupling reaction conditions, which results in highly stable organic framework materials. This strategy successfully endows intrinsic framework skeletons, porosity and properties of the parent MOFs in the daughter organic framework materials, which exhibit excellent chemical stability under harsh catalytic conditions. Therefore, this work opens a new avenue to synthesize stable organic framework materials derived from MOFs for applications in different fields.     

Molecular Designs and Properties of Highly Efficient Blue Emitters for OLEDs

Advances made in the molecular design of modern optoelectronic materials have made significant contributions toward the development of organic electronics. The organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) employing monodisperse or polymeric conjugated materials possess the most promising prospects. However, materials suitable for long-term use as blue light emitters are still far from optimization in terms of stability.In the past few years, interesting materials based on 9,9-diaryl-substituted fluorene as a core structure have been developed in our laboratory. We developed a series of efficient and morphologically stable pyrimidine-containing 9,9'-spirobifluorene-cored oligoaryls as pure blue emitters. The steric hindrance inherent with the molecular structure renders the material with a record-high thin-film PL quantum yield of ～95% and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of ～200 ℃.Blue OLEDs employing this thermally stable compound as the emitting host exhibit unusual endurance for high currents. Injection current over 5,000 mA/cm2 and maximal brightness of～80,000 cd/m2 had been demonstrated, representing the highest values reported for blue OLEDs under dc driving. In addition, a series of oligofluorene homologues have been synthesized. These oligofluorenes exhibit interesting reversible bipolar redox properties and excellent morphological and thermal stability. Furthermore, nondispersive ambipolar high hole and electron mobilities over 10-3 cm2/V.s can be achieved with these oligo(9,9-diarylfluorene)s. In particular, the electron mobility observed represents the highest ever reported for amorphous molecular solids. These intriguing properties together with the high quantum yields in thin films make these oligo(9,9-diarylfluorene)s are promising for OLEDs applications as efficient blue emitters. In this meeting, the synthesis and properties of these materials and their highly efficient OLEDs device characteristics will be discussed.     

New Synthetic Routes towards Soluble and Dissymmetric Triphenodioxazine Dyes Designed for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

New π‐conjugated structures are constantly the subject of research in dyes and pigments industry and electronic organic field. In this context, the triphenodioxazine (TPDO) core has often been used as efficient photostable pigments and once integrated in air stable n‐type organic field‐effect transistor (OFET). However, little attention has been paid to the TPDO core as soluble materials for optoelectronic devices, possibly due to the harsh synthetic conditions and the insolubility of many compounds. To benefit from the photostability of TPDO in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs), an original synthetic pathway has been established to provide soluble and dissymmetric molecules applied to a suitable design for the sensitizers of DSC. The study has been pursued by the theoretical modeling of opto‐electronic properties, the optical and electronic characterizations of dyes and elaboration of efficient devices. The discovery of new synthetic pathways opens the way to innovative designs of TPDO for materials used in organic electronics.     

Flexible electronics based on one-dimensional inorganic semiconductor nanowires and two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

Flexible electronics technology is considered as a revolutionary technology to unlock the bottleneck of traditional rigid electronics that prevalent for decades, thereby fueling the next-generation electronics. In the past few decades, the research on flexible electronic devices based on organic materials has witnessed rapid development and substantial achievements, and inorganic semiconductors are also now beginning to shine in the field of flexible electronics. As validated by the latest research, some of the inorganic semiconductors, particularly those at low dimension, unexpectedly exhibited excellent mechanical flexibility on top of superior electrical properties. Herein, we bring together a comprehensive analysis on the recently burgeoning low-dimension inorganic semiconductor materials in flexible electronics, including one-dimensional (1D) inorganic semiconductor nanowires (NWs) and two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). The fundamental electrical properties, optical properties, mechanical properties and strain engineering of materials, and their performance in flexible device applications are discussed in detail. We also propose current challenges and predict future development directions including material synthesis and device fabrication and integration.     

A novel molecularly imprinted method with computational simulation for the affinity isolation and knockout of baicalein from Scutellaria baicalensis

A novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized by precipitation polymerization with baicalein (BAI) as the template and used as solid‐phase extraction (SPE) adsorbent, aiming at the affinity isolation and selective knockout of BAI from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (SB). We used computational simulation to predict the optimal functional monomer, polymerization solvent and molar ratio of template to functional monomer. Characterization and performance tests revealed that MIP exhibited uniform spherical morphology, rapid binding kinetics, and higher adsorption capacity for BAI compared with nonimprinted polymer (NIP). The application of MIP in SPE coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography to extract BAI from SB showed excellent recovery (94.3%) and purity (97.0%). Not only the single BAI compound, but also the BAI‐removed SB extract was obtained by one‐step process. This new method is useful for isolation and knockout of key bioactive compounds from herbal medicines. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organophosphorus Compounds in Organic Electronics

This Minireview describes recent advances of organophosphorus compounds as opto‐electronic materials in the field of organic electronics. The progress of (hetero‐) phospholes, unsaturated phosphanes, and trivalent and pentavalent phosphanes since 2010 is covered. The described applications of organophosphorus materials range from single molecule sensors, field effect transistors, organic light emitting diodes, to polymeric materials for organic photovoltaic applications.     

Dicarboxylic imide‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) with high electron affinity

Synthesis of n‐type organic semiconductors with high electron mobilities, good environmental stability, and good processability is an urgent task in current organic electronics. This is because most of π‐conjugated materials are p‐type and prefer to transport positive hole carriers. In this article, a series of new dicarboxylic imide‐substituted poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) (DI‐PPVs) were first synthesized. They exhibited a high electron affinity of 3.60 eV and thus are able to transport electrons. The polymers showed tunable solubility in common organic solvents and high chemical and thermal stability. They remain rigidity of the PPV backbone, and strong interchain π‐stacking was observed in thin films by X‐ray diffraction measurement. All these suggested that these polymers could serve as good candidates as n‐type semiconductors in organic electronic devices such as n‐channel field‐effect transistors and all polymer‐based solar cells. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 186–194, 2010     

Air‐Stable n‐Type Thermoelectric Materials Enabled by Organic Diradicaloids

Air‐stable n‐type thermoelectric materials are recognized as an important and challenging topic in organic thermoelectrics (OTEs) because conventional n‐type OTE materials prepared by chemical doping are highly volatile upon exposure to air. Besides, doping efficiency and microstructure are hard to control with the incorporation of external dopants. We report herein the design and synthesis of unconventional n‐type OTE materials based on the diradicaloids 2DQQT‐S and 2DQQT‐Se, which are proved to be neutral single‐component organic conductors that exhibit an unprecedented air stability. Without external n‐doping, a pristine film of 2DQQT‐Se shows an electrical conductivity as high as 0.29 S cm^?1 delivering a power factor of 1.4 μW m^?1 K^?2. Under ambient conditions, no decay in electrical conductivity is observed for over 260 hours. This work demonstrates that diradicaloids are promising candidates for air‐stable and high‐performance OTE materials.     

Large‐Area,Free‐Standing,Two‐Dimensional Supramolecular Polymer Single‐Layer Sheets for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

The rational construction of covalent or noncovalent organic two‐dimensional nanosheets is a fascinating target because of their promising applications in electronics, membrane technology, catalysis, sensing, and energy technologies. Herein, a large‐area (square millimeters) and free‐standing 2D supramolecular polymer (2DSP) single‐layer sheet (0.7–0.9 nm in thickness), comprising triphenylene‐fused nickel bis(dithiolene) complexes has been readily prepared by using the Langmuir–Blodgett method. Such 2DSPs exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation from water with a Tafel slope of 80.5 mV decade⁻¹ and an overpotential of 333 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², which are superior to that of recently reported carbon nanotube supported molecular catalysts and heteroatom‐doped graphene catalysts. This work is promising for the development of novel free‐standing organic 2D materials for energy technologies.     

Large‐Area,Free‐Standing,Two‐Dimensional Supramolecular Polymer Single‐Layer Sheets for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

The rational construction of covalent or noncovalent organic two‐dimensional nanosheets is a fascinating target because of their promising applications in electronics, membrane technology, catalysis, sensing, and energy technologies. Herein, a large‐area (square millimeters) and free‐standing 2D supramolecular polymer (2DSP) single‐layer sheet (0.7–0.9 nm in thickness), comprising triphenylene‐fused nickel bis(dithiolene) complexes has been readily prepared by using the Langmuir–Blodgett method. Such 2DSPs exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation from water with a Tafel slope of 80.5 mV decade^?1 and an overpotential of 333 mV at 10 mA cm^?2, which are superior to that of recently reported carbon nanotube supported molecular catalysts and heteroatom‐doped graphene catalysts. This work is promising for the development of novel free‐standing organic 2D materials for energy technologies.     

Naphthalene‐Diimide‐Based Ionenes as Universal Interlayers for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Self‐doping ionene polymers were efficiently synthesized by reacting functional naphthalene diimide (NDI) with 1,3‐dibromopropane ( NDI‐NI ) or trans‐1,4‐dibromo‐2‐butene ( NDI‐CI ) via quaternization polymerization. These NDI‐based ionene polymers are universal interlayers with random molecular orientation, boosting the efficiencies of fullerene‐based, non‐fullerene‐based, and ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) over a wide range of interlayer thicknesses, with a maximum efficiency of 16.9 %. NDI‐NI showed a higher interfacial dipole (Δ), conductivity, and electron mobility than NDI‐CI , affording solar cells with higher efficiencies. These polymers proved to efficiently lower the work function (WF) of air‐stable metals and optimize the contact between metal electrode and organic semiconductor, highlighting their power to overcome energy barriers of electron injection and extraction processes for efficient organic electronics.     

Combining electron-neutral building blocks with intramolecular "conformational locks" affords stable, high-mobility p- and n-channel polymer semiconductors

Understanding the relationship between molecular/macromolecular architecture and organic thin film transistor (TFT) performance is essential for realizing next-generation high-performance organic electronics. In this regard, planar π-conjugated, electron-neutral (i.e., neither highly electron-rich nor highly electron-deficient) building blocks represent a major goal for polymeric semiconductors, however their realization presents synthetic challenges. Here we report that an easily accessible (minimal synthetic steps), electron-neutral thienyl-vinylene (TVT)-based building block having weak intramolecular S···O "conformational locks" affords a new class of stable, structurally planar, solution-processable, high-mobility, molecular, and macromolecular semiconductors. The attraction of merging the weak TVT electron richness with supramolecular planarization is evident in the DFT-computed electronic structures, favorable MO energetics, X-ray diffraction-derived molecular structures, experimental lattice coehesion metrics, and excellent TFT performance. TVT-based polymer TFTs exhibit stable carrier mobilities in air as high as 0.5 and 0.05 cm(2)/V·s (n- and p-type, respectively). All-TVT polymer-based complementary inverter circuitry exhibiting high voltage gains (~50) and ring oscillator circuitry with high f(osc)(~1.25 kHz) is readily fabricated from these materials by simple inkjet printing.     

Activated carbon felts with exfoliated graphene nanosheets for flexible all-solid-state supercapacitors

Porous activated carbon felts (ACFs) with exfoliated graphene nanosheets were prepared by a simple thermal treatment strategy. They exhibit high gravimetric and areal specific capacitances as well as long-term cycling stability. Impressively, the all-solid-state supercapacitors based on ACFs electrodes deliver stable electrochemical performance even under different bending states.     

Synthesis of Nitrogen‐Containing Rubicene and Tetrabenzopentacene Derivatives

Carbon‐based materials, such as acenes, fullerenes, and graphene nanoribbons, are viewed as the potential successors to silicon in the next generation of electronics. Although a number of methodologies provide access to these materials’ all‐carbon variants, relatively fewer strategies readily furnish their nitrogen‐doped analogues. Herein, we report the rational design, preparation, and characterization of nitrogen‐containing rubicenes and tetrabenzopentacenes, which can be viewed either as acene derivatives or as molecular fragments of fullerenes and graphene nanoribbons. The reported findings may prove valuable for the development of electron transporting organic semiconductors and for the eventual construction of larger carbonaceous systems.