Role of doping and sheet size in tailoring optoelectronic properties of germanene: A TDDFT study

Germanene is a novel 2D material with promising optoelectronic properties, tuning of which is to be explored. This work demonstrates that doping and increasing the sheet size can alter optical and electronic properties of germanene via perturbation of the band structure. This feature has also been observed in other nanostructures, notably, silicon nanostructures, and may be attributed to quantum confinement effects. Our main findings on H‐terminated germanene are, (i) band gap can be reduced by 30%, (ii) exciton binding energy can be reduced by 60%, and (iii) absorption spectra can be tuned from UV to visible range. We employ time‐dependent density functional theory to investigate the role of dopants, boron (B), phosphorus (P), carbon (C), silicon (Si), and zirconium (Zr). Width of the germanene sheet is varied from 0.78 nm to 2.78 nm. Frequency and energy calculations are carried out to analyze the infrared (IR) and ultra‐violet (UV)‐visible (VIS) spectra.     

The paradox of an insulating contact between a chemisorbed molecule and a wide band gap semiconductor surface

Controlling the intrinsic optical and electronic properties of a single molecule adsorbed on a surface requires electronic decoupling of some molecular orbitals from the surface states. Scanning tunneling microscopy experiments and density functional theory calculations are used to study a perylene molecule derivative (DHH-PTCDI), adsorbed on the clean 3 × 3 reconstructed wide band gap silicon carbide surface (SiC(0001)-3 × 3). We find that the LUMO of the adsorbed molecule is invisible in I(V) spectra due to the absence of any surface or bulk states and that the HOMO has a very low saturation current in I(z) spectra. These results present a paradox that the molecular orbitals are electronically isolated from the surface of the wide band gap semiconductor even though strong chemical bonds are formed.     

Electrical conductivity,photoconductivity, and optical properties of poly(1,4‐diaminoanthraquinone) organic semiconductor for optoelectronic applications

The electrical conductivity and optical properties of the poly(1,4‐diaminoanthraquinone) [poly(1,4‐DAAQ)] have been investigated. The electrical conductivity of the polymer increases with temperature and room temperature conductivity was found to be 2.68 10^?5 S cm^?1. The optical band gap of the polymer is 1.87 eV due to the direct optical transitions. The photoconductivity of the polymer is higher than that of dark conductivity. When the light is switched on, the resistance decreases abruptly and when it is switched off, the resistance increases. This confirms that the polymer is a photoconductive material. The obtained results indicate that the poly(1,4‐DAAQ) is a photoconducting organic semiconductor with photovoltaic and dark current properties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis, structure, and optoelectronic properties of phosphafluorene copolymers

Copolymers of phosphafluorenes are obtained through Suzuki copolymerization. The phosphorus-containing copolymers show unique optical, electrochemical, and optoelectronic properties. Blue and white electroluminescence can be observed, depending on the modifications of the phosphorus atoms. It is the first time that conjugated polymers containing phosphafluorene have been prepared and used in PLEDs. Phosphafluorenes are new building blocks for conjugated oligomers and polymers.     

Theoretical characterization of titanyl phthalocyanine as a p-type organic semiconductor: short intermolecular pi-pi interactions yield large electronic couplings and hole transport bandwidths

The charge-transport properties of the triclinic phase II crystal of titanyl phthalocyanine (alpha-TiOPc) are explored within both a hopping and bandlike regime. Electronic coupling elements in convex- and concave-type dimers are calculated using density functional theory, and the relationship between molecular structure and crystal packing structure in model dimer configurations is considered. Hole transport bandwidths derived from crystal structure dimers are compared to those obtained from electronic band structure calculations; very good agreement between the two approaches is found. The calculations predict large hole bandwidths, on the order of 0.4 eV, and correspondingly very low hole reorganization energies.     

Synthesis,photophysical, and electrochemical properties of wide band gap tetraphenylsilane-carbazole derivatives: Effect of the substitution position and naphthalene side chain

Four tetraphenylsilane-carbazole derivatives with wide bandgaps (3.38–3.55 eV) were synthesized. The effects of the substitution position and of the presence of naphthalene groups on the photophysical, electrochemical and thermal properties were investigated. The derivatives exhibited maximum absorption peaks ranging from 293 to 304 nm and maximum emission peaks ranging from 347 to 386 nm. Changing the carbazole substitution position on the tetraphenylsilane did not significantly change the photophysical and electrochemical properties. However, p-substituted compounds exhibited higher glass transition temperatures than m-substituted compounds. Naphthalene groups with bulky structures had extended the conjugation lengths that red-shifted both the absorption and emission spectra. The LUMO level was decreased, which reduced the optical bandgap and triplet energy level. However, the naphthalene groups significantly improved the thermal stability by increasing the glass transition temperature of the compounds.     

Optical and electrical properties of the wide gap,n-type semiconductors: ZnBi2O6 and MgBi2O6

Characterization of polycrystalline samples of the trirutile oxides ZnBi2O6 and MgBi2O6 reveals temperature independent conductivity (0.4 and 0.01 S cm(-1)), a negative Seebeck coefficient (-0.035 and -0.025 mV K(-1)), and an optical band gap that falls at the low energy end of visible region (1.7 and 1.8 eV), this combination of attributes, indicating that these compounds are degenerate n-type semiconductors, has not previously been observed in a Bi(5+) oxide.     

酞菁高分子修饰及其光电性质研究进展

酞菁拥有高度离域的二维18π电子共轭体系、易于调变的分子结构、优良的热和化学稳定性和易于处理加工等特点,可以在很宽的范围内剪裁它们的物理、光电和化学参数,其潜在的巨大应用价值已受到科学与企业界的广泛关注和研究。与[60]富勒烯一样,酞菁分子也可以通过共价键合的方式引入到高分子主链或侧链形成不同类型的高分子,亦可得到诸如酞菁网状高分子和树枝状酞菁大分子等高分子材料;与适宜的高分子材料掺杂或共混能形成含酞菁的高分子复合材料。本文详细地介绍了近年来酞菁高分子修饰与光电性质研究进展。     

Sol-gel template synthesis and photoluminescence of n- and p-type semiconductor oxide nanowires.

A sol-gel template technique has been put forward to synthesize single-crystalline semiconductor oxide nanowires, such as n-type SnO2 and p-type NiO. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations show that the oxide nanowires are single-crystal with average diameters in the range of 100-300 nm and lengths of over 10 microm. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show a PL emission peak at 401 nm for n-type semiconductor SnO2, and a PL emission at 407 nm for p-type semiconductor NiO nanowires, respectively. Correspondingly, the observed violet-light emission at room temperature is attributed to near-band-edge emission for SnO2 nanowires and the 3d(7)4s-->3d8 transition of Ni2+ for NiO nanowires.     

Electrochemically superfilling of n-type ZnO nanorod arrays with p-type CuSCN semiconductor

The primary problem for constructing three-dimensional (3D) heterojunctions lies in poor pore filling and interface contact quality. An electrochemical superfilling technique is developed to construct well-organized heterojunctions based on a bottom-up filling mechanism. Morphology observation shows that ZnO nanorod arrays are completely filled with CuSCN and intimate interface contact is formed between ZnO and CuSCN. Electrical test confirms that as-fabricated 3D heterojunction has high diode current density and high rectification ratio of 154. This superfilling technique has promising applications in other 3D heterojunctions.     

Achievement of highly conductive p-type transparent NdCuOS film with Cu deficiency and effective doping

Future advanced invisible or transparent electronics necessitate the need to overcome the well-known challenge in achieving high-performance p-type transparent semiconducting oxides (TSOs). Here, we report our success in achieving an outstanding p-type TSO thin film NdCuOS, which is the best performing p-type TSO reported to date based on the figure of merit (FoM) according to the best of our knowledge. In this work, we designed a novel chemical solution method to prepare the highly performing NdCuOS films with different doping elements. Our success in using a chemical solution method to grow semiconducting NdCuOS demonstrates that highly conductive oxychalcogenide films are possible to be prepared by a solution method. Such a solution method is facile, economically efficient, and scalable. Among our NdCuOS films with different dopants, we find that Mg-doped NdCuOS film demonstrates a very high p-type conductivity of 52.1 S cm^?1 and optical transmittance of 54.3% with a huge FoM value of 1706 μS. This surpassed all the other p-type films reported so far in terms of FoM. Strong photoluminescence peaks at 3.0 eV are observed for our films, indicating their great potential applications for UV or blue light LED and other devices. The science behind such a successful achievement of high-performance p-type NdCuOS film is analyzed and discussed. A transparent p-n diode with very low leakage current (9.12  μA at ?3 V) and turn-on voltage (1.1 V) is successfully fabricated, and it demonstrates a good device performance.     

Syntheses and optoelectronic properties of four photochromic dithienylethenes

Four photochromic dithienylethene compounds, 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-naphthalene-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene 1a, 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-fluorophenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene 2a, 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-ethoxyphenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene 3a, and 1,2-bis[2-methyl-5(p-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene 4a were synthesized, and their optoelectronic properties, such as photochromism in solution as well as in poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) amorphous films, fluorescences and electrochemical properties were investigated in detail. These dithienylethenes have shown good photochromic behavior both in solution and in PMMA amorphous film. All of them exhibited relatively strong fluorescence and gave a bathochromic shift upon increasing concentration in THF. The irreversible anodic oxidation of 1a, 2a and 4a was observed by performing cyclic voltammetry experiments.     

Synthesis,characterization, and optoelectronic properties of hyperbranched polyfluorenes containing pendant benzylether dendrons

Linear polyfluorenes with low generation of side benzylether dendrons ( PLG0 , PLG1 ) and hyperbranched polyfluorenes with 1,3,5‐benzene branch unit ( PHG0 and PHG1 ) were prepared by the Suzuki coupling reaction to investigate the structural effect on optoelectronic properties. Their optical properties, both in solution and film state, were investigated using absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The excimer emission of polyfluorene at about 530 nm, induced by thermal annealing, was completely suppressed by the hyperbranched structure, but the suppression was not obvious by the side benzylether dendrons. The optoelectronic performance of the EL devices (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer/Ca/Al) was strongly dependent upon chemical structures of the emitting polyfluorenes. The hyperbranched PHG0 with zero generation of benzylether side groups revealed the best device performance, with maximal luminance and maximal luminance efficiency of 2350 cd/m² and 0.33 cd/A, respectively. The results suggest that incorporation of branch units with low generation of benzylether dendrons is an effective way to improve annealing stability and EL performance of the polyfluorenes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 5945–5958, 2008     

Anhydrous crystals of DNA bases are wide gap semiconductors

We present the structural, electronic, and optical properties of anhydrous crystals of DNA nucleobases (guanine, adenine, cytosine, and thymine) found after DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations within the local density approximation, as well as experimental measurements of optical absorption for powders of these crystals. Guanine and cytosine (adenine and thymine) anhydrous crystals are predicted from the DFT simulations to be direct (indirect) band gap semiconductors, with values 2.68 eV and 3.30 eV (2.83 eV and 3.22 eV), respectively, while the experimentally estimated band gaps we have measured are 3.83 eV and 3.84 eV (3.89 eV and 4.07 eV), in the same order. The electronic effective masses we have obtained at band extremes show that, at low temperatures, these crystals behave like wide gap semiconductors for electrons moving along the nucleobases stacking direction, while the hole transport are somewhat limited. Lastly, the calculated electronic dielectric functions of DNA nucleobases crystals in the parallel and perpendicular directions to the stacking planes exhibit a high degree of anisotropy (except cytosine), in agreement with published experimental results.     

Effects of guanidinium cations on structural,optoelectronic and photovoltaic properties of perovskites

Guanidinium (GA) cations are intentionally introduced in MAPbl3 perovskite by considering its potential capability of stabilizing the material through plenty of...     

N,N'-Dicyanoquinone diimide-derived donor-acceptor chromophores: conformational analysis and optoelectronic properties

A formal [2 + 2] cycloaddition-cycloreversion (CA-CR) between N,N'-dicyanoquinone diimides (DCNQIs) and electron-rich alkynes was explored, providing a new class of π-conjugated donor-acceptor chromophores. These DCNQI adducts exist in the solid state as single diastereoisomers, but as two interconverting diastereoisomers in solution. Solid- and solution-state evidence for intramolecular charge transfer (CT) was obtained; additionally, the DCNQI adducts exhibit positive solvatochromism and significant solution-state third-order polarizabilities.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and optoelectronic properties of a new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene

A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene, 1-(2-methyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)-2-[2-methyl-5-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)-3-thienyl]perfluorocyclopentene (1a), was synthesized and its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Its optical and electrochemical properties, including photochromic reactivity both in solution and in the solid state (PMMA film and the single-crystalline phase), fluorescence and electrochemical properties were investigated in detail. The compound showed excellent photochromism even in the single-crystalline phase by photo-irradiation. In acetonitrile, the open-ring isomer of diarylethene 1 exhibited relatively strong fluorescence at 470nm when excited at 300nm, and its emission intensity decreased along with the photochromism upon irradiation with 313nm light. Its closed-ring isomer showed almost no fluorescence. The electrochemical properties of diarylethene were investigated by performing cyclic voltammetry experiment and its HOMO and LUMO energy level were calculated.     

Synthesis,mesomorphic behaviour and optoelectronic properties of phosphorus-based thermotropic liquid crystalline dendrimers

A new series of thermotropic phosphorus-based liquid crystalline (LC) dendrimers based on a thiophosphoryl-phenoxymethyl(methylhydrazono) core (thiophosphoryl-PMMH) up to the fifth generation has been synthesised by solution condensation of aldehyde groups, surface-functionalised thiophosphoryl-PMMH dendritic substrates of generation numbers G_0.5 to G_5.5, with the appropriate molar equivalents of the pro-mesogenic n-hexadecylaniline mono-functional building block. Their chemical composition has been confirmed by ¹H/¹³C/³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis. Optical properties have been studied by ultraviolet-visible absorption, photoluminescence spectroscopy and polarised optical microscopy, and thermal characteristics by differential scanning calorimetry. Electrical studies have been made using the current-voltage characteristics of organic light-emitting diodes consisting of multi-layered indium tin oxide/dendrimer/aluminium tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)Al architecture. It has been demonstrated that the molecular engineering approach adopted can successfully lead to phosphorus-containing dendritic organic semiconductors (OSCs) which show tunable mesomorphic behaviour (extension of the observed smectic mesophase) and (opto) electronic properties, owing to their peripheral decoration with a tunable number of azomethine-based optically active chromophoric units. This rare combination of ‘tunable by design’ properties makes this series of thermostable thiophosphoryl-PMMH-based LC dendrimers a particularly appealing class of OSCs for use in optically and/or electronically active layers of (opto)electronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors, solar cells and lasers.     

Copolyfluorenes containing bridged triphenylamine or triphenylamine: Synthesis,characterization, and optoelectronic properties

A novel aryl‐bridged triphenylamine derivative, 7‐t‐butyl‐5,5,9,9‐tetraaryl‐13b‐aza‐naphtho[3,2,1‐de]anthracene (ABTPA) was designed and synthesized. The alternating copolymers of ABTPA/dihexylfluorene ( P1 ) and triphenylamine (TPA)/dihexylfluorene ( P2 ) were synthesized by Suzuki coupling reaction. P1 shows excellent thermal stability with a decomposition temperature of 440 °C and a glass‐transition temperature of 326 °C. The HOMO energy levels of the two polymers are very close (?5.15 eV for P1 and ?5.13 eV for P2 ). The maximum absorption peak of P1 is red shifted by 23 nm with respect to P2 , because the incorporation of ABTPA units into the PF backbone enhances the electronic conjugation degree compared with the case of TPA units. The rigidity and the steric hindrance of the ABTPA in P1 result in a small Stokes shift and almost the same emission spectra of P1 between its film and solution. A PLED with simple configurations of ITO/ P1 /TNS (tetranaphthalen‐2‐yl‐silane)/Alq₃ (tris(8‐hydroxyquinolinolato)aluminum)/Al emits a blue light with emission peak at 436 nm, and exhibits a maximum current efficiency of 1.89 cd/A and a maximum luminance of 4183 cd/m², which is superior to the device with P2 as emissive layer under the identical conditions. These results indicate that ABTPA unit could be a very promising candidate to replace TPA unit and find widely application in organic/polymeric optoelectronic materials. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 3651–3661, 2009