Dodecatwistarene Imides with Zigzag-Twisted Conformation for Organic Electronics

1D nonplanar graphene nanoribbons generally have three possible conformers: helical, zigzag, and mixed conformations. Now, a kind of 1D nonplanar graphene nanoribbon, namely dodecatwistarene imides featuring twelve linearly fused benzene rings, was obtained by bottom-up synthesis of palladium-catalyzed Stille coupling and C−H activation. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that it displays a zigzag-twisted conformation caused by steric hindrance between imide groups and neighboring annulated benzene rings with the pendulum angle of 53°. This conformation is very stable and could not convert into other conformations even when heated up to 250 °C for 6 h. Despite of the highly twisted topology, organic field-effect transistor based on it exhibits electron mobility up to 1.5 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ after annealing.     

The Emergence of Organic Single‐Crystal Electronics

Organic semiconducting single crystals are perfect for both fundamental and application‐oriented research due to the advantages of free grain boundaries, few defects, and minimal traps and impurities, as well as their low‐temperature processability, high flexibility, and low cost. Carrier mobilities of greater than 10 cm² V^?1 s^?1 in some organic single crystals indicate a promising application in electronic devices. The progress made, including the molecular structures and fabrication technologies of organic single crystals, is introduced and organic single‐crystal electronic devices, including field‐effect transistors, phototransistors, p‐n heterojunctions, and circuits, are summarized. Organic two‐dimensional single crystals, cocrystals, and large single crystals, together with some potential applications, are introduced. A state‐of‐the‐art overview of organic single‐crystal electronics, with their challenges and prospects, is also provided.     

酰胺与酰亚胺类n型有机半导体材料的研究进展

有机半导体材料具有来源丰富、化学结构可裁剪、柔韧性较高、器件制备温度低和塑料衬底兼容性好等优点, 极大地拓展了电子器件的功能与应用. 然而, 电子传输型(n型)有机半导体在分子多样性、载流子迁移率和空气稳定性方面远远落后于空穴传输型(p型)半导体, 从而阻碍了双极晶体管、p-n结和有机互补电路的发展. 酰胺或酰亚胺功能化能显著提高有机材料的电子亲和势, 是构建高性能n型有机半导体的重要策略. 本综述总结了近年来萘二酰亚胺类、苝二酰亚胺类、吡咯并吡咯二酮类、异靛蓝类和其他酰胺/酰亚胺类小分子和聚合物n型有机半导体材料的研究进展, 从分子设计角度出发, 深入讨论了分子结构如何改变分子前线轨道能级、分子间相互作用力、聚集态结构、器件稳定性和电学性能, 最后对其未来的发展方向和面临的挑战进行了展望.     

Triplet Acceptors with a D‐A Structure and Twisted Conformation for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Triplet acceptors have been developed to construct high‐performance organic solar cells (OSCs) as the long lifetime and diffusion range of triplet excitons may dissociate into free charges instead of net recombination when the energy levels of the lowest triplet state (T₁) are close to those of charge‐transfer states (³CT). The current triplet acceptors were designed by introducing heavy atoms to enhance the intersystem crossing, limiting their applications. Herein, two twisted acceptors without heavy atoms, analogues of Y6, constructed with large π‐conjugated core and D‐A structure, were confirmed to be triplet materials, leading to high‐performance OSCs. The mechanism of triplet excitons were investigated to show that the twisted and D‐A structures result in large spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and small energy gap between the singlet and triplet states, and thus efficient intersystem crossing. Moreover, the energy level of T₁ is close to ³CT, facilitating the split of triplet exciton to free charges.     

Ladder‐Type Heteroarene‐Based Organic Semiconductors

The fusion of heteroaromatic rings into ladder‐type heteroarenes can stabilize frontier molecular orbitals and lead to improved physicochemical properties that are beneficial for applications in various optoelectronic devices. Thus, ladder‐type heteroarenes, which feature highly planar backbones and well‐delocalized π conjugation, have recently emerged as a promising type of organic semiconductor with excellent device performance in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs). In this Focus Review, we summarize the recent advances in ladder‐type heteroarene‐based organic semiconductors, such as hole‐ and electron‐transporting molecular semiconductors, and fully ladder‐type conjugated polymers towards their applications in OPVs and OFETs. The recent use of ladder‐type small‐molecule acceptor materials has strikingly boosted the power conversion efficiency of fullerene‐free solar cells, and selected examples of the latest developments in ladder‐type fused‐ring electron acceptor materials are also elaborated.     

Cocrystallization of Imide‐Fused Corannulene Derivatives and C60: Guest‐Induced Conformational Switching and 1:1 Segregated Packing

A pair of interconvertible stereoisomers of imide‐fused corannulene derivatives was mixed with C₆₀, which resulted in cocrystallization into a 1:1 segregated packing motif through concave–convex π–π interactions. Only one conformation was observed in the cocrystal owing to guest‐induced conformational switching. The 1D assemblies of the complex showed promising applications in organic electronics.     

Triplet Acceptors with a D-A Structure and Twisted Conformation for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Triplet acceptors have been developed to construct high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs) as the long lifetime and diffusion range of triplet excitons may dissociate into free charges instead of net recombination when the energy levels of the lowest triplet state (T₁) are close to those of charge-transfer states (³CT). The current triplet acceptors were designed by introducing heavy atoms to enhance the intersystem crossing, limiting their applications. Herein, two twisted acceptors without heavy atoms, analogues of Y6, constructed with large π-conjugated core and D-A structure, were confirmed to be triplet materials, leading to high-performance OSCs. The mechanism of triplet excitons were investigated to show that the twisted and D-A structures result in large spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and small energy gap between the singlet and triplet states, and thus efficient intersystem crossing. Moreover, the energy level of T₁ is close to ³CT, facilitating the split of triplet exciton to free charges.     

A General Method for Growing Two‐Dimensional Crystals of Organic Semiconductors by “Solution Epitaxy”

Two‐dimensional (2D) crystals of organic semiconductors (2DCOS) have attracted attention for large‐area and low‐cost flexible optoelectronics. However, growing large 2DCOS in controllable ways and transferring them onto technologically important substrates, remain key challenges. Herein we report a facile, general, and effective method to grow 2DCOS up to centimeter size which can be transferred to any substrate efficiently. The method named “solution epitaxy” involves two steps. The first is to self‐assemble micrometer‐sized 2DCOS on water surface. The second is epitaxial growth of them into millimeter or centimeter sized 2DCOS with thickness of several molecular layers. The general applicability of this method for the growth of 2DCOS is demonstrated by nine organic semiconductors with different molecular structures. Organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) based on the 2DCOS demonstrated high performance, confirming the high quality of the 2DCOS.     

An A‐D‐A′‐D‐A Conjugated Molecule Entailing Diazapentalene Unit for an n‐Type Organic Semiconductor

Conjugated molecules with low lying LUMO levels are demanding for the development of air stable n‐type organic semiconductors. In this paper, we report a new A‐D‐A′‐D‐A conjugated molecule ( DAPDCV ) entailing diazapentalene (DAP) and dicyanovinylene groups as electron accepting units. Both theoretical and electrochemical studies manifest that the incorporation of DAP unit in the conjugated molecule can effectively lower the LUMO energy level. Accordingly, thin film of DAPDCV shows n‐type semiconducting behavior with electron mobility up to 0.16 cm²?V^?1?s^?1 after thermal annealing under N₂ atmosphere. Moreover, thin film of DAPDCV also shows stable n‐type transporting property in air with mobility reaching 0.078 cm²?V^?1?s^?1.     

Benign‐by‐Design Solventless Mechanochemical Synthesis of Three‐, Two‐, and One‐Dimensional Hybrid Perovskites

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites have attracted significant attention owing to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties with applications in the fields of solar energy, lighting, photodetectors, and lasers. The rational design of these hybrid materials is a key factor in the optimization of their performance in perovskite‐based devices. Herein, a mechanochemical approach is proposed as a highly efficient, simple, and reproducible method for the preparation of four types of hybrid perovskites, which were obtained in large amounts as polycrystalline powders with high purity and excellent optoelectronics properties. Two archetypal three‐dimensional (3D) perovskites (MAPbI₃ and FAPbI₃) were synthesized, together with a bidimensional (2D) perovskite (Gua₂PbI₄) and a “double‐chain” one‐dimensional (1D) perovskite (GuaPbI₃), whose structure was elucidated by X‐ray diffraction.     

Solution‐Processable Balanced Ambipolar Field‐Effect Transistors Based on Carbonyl‐Regulated Copolymers

It is very important to develop ambipolar field effect transistors to construct complementary circuits. To obtain balanced hole‐ and electron‐transport properties, one of the key issues is to regulate the energy levels of the frontier orbitals of the semiconductor materials by structural tailoring, so that they match well with the electrode Fermi levels. Five conjugated copolymers were synthesized and exhibited low LUMO energy levels and narrow bandgaps on account of the strong electron‐withdrawing effect of the carbonyl groups. Polymer thin film transistors were prepared by using a solution method and exhibited high and balanced hole and electron mobility of up to 0.46 cm² V^?1 s^?1, which suggested that these copolymers are promising ambipolar semiconductor materials.     

Influence of Backbone Chlorination on the Electronic Properties of Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)‐Based Dimers

Chlorination of π‐conjugated backbones is garnering great interest because of fine‐tuning electronic properties of conjugated materials for organic devices. Herein we report a synthesis of thiophene‐based diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) dimers and their chlorinated counterparts by introducing a chlorine atom in the outer thiophene ring to investigate the influence of the chlorination on charge transport. The backbone chlorination lowers both the HOMO and the LUMO of the dimers and leads to a blue‐shift of maximum absorption in compared to unsubstituted counterparts. X‐ray analysis reveals that the chlorine atom prompts the outer thiophene ring out of the planarity of the backbone with a relatively large torsional angle. The chlorinated dimers exhibit slipped one‐dimensional packing decorated with multiple intermolecular interactions, because of a combination of a negative inductive effect and a positive mesomeric effect of the halogen atom, which might facilitate charge transport within the oligomeric backbones. The mobility in the single‐crystal OFET devices of the chlorinated dimers is up to 1.5 cm² V^?1 s^?1, which is two times higher than that of the non‐chlorinated DPP dimers. Our results indicate that the chlorine atom plays a key role in directing non‐covalent interactions to lock the slipped stacks, enabling electronic coupling between adjacent molecules for efficient charge transport. In addition, our results also demonstrate that these DPP dimers with straight n‐octyl chains exhibit higher mobilities than the dimers with branched 2‐ethylhexyl chains.     

Ladder-type Diindenopyrazine Based Conjugated Copolymers for Organic Solar Cells with High Open-circuit Voltages

A ladder-type diindenopyrazine （IPY） was synthesized and used as a building block for constructing conjugated copolymers. Three copolymers based on the IPY moiety were obtained via the Suzuki coupling reaction with dif- ferent monomers, including 4,7-dithien-2-yl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole （DBT）, 5,8-dithien-2-yl-2,3-diphenylquinoxa- line （DTQ）, and 5,8-dithien-2-yl-2,3-di（4-fluorophenyl）quinoxaline （DFTQ）. The obtained polymers were charac- terized by 1H NMR spectroscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and gel permeation chro- matography （GPC）. Owing to the four solubilizing alkyl chains on the IPY unit, all the three copolymers have good solubility in common solvents. These polymers have deep-lying HOMO energy levels in the range of-5.55-5.60 eV, and exhibit field-effect mobilities as high as 0.006 cm2.V-l.s i. Photovoltaic applications of these polymers as light-harvesting and hole-conducting materials were investigated in conjunction with [6,6]-phenyl-C6rbutyric acid methyl ester （PC61BM）. Both conventional and inverted devices were fabricated based on these three polymers. A power conversion efficiency （PCE） of 2.53% and a high open-circuit voltage of 1.00 V were obtained under simu- lated solar light AM 1.5 G （100 mW/cm2） from an inverted solar cell with an active layer containing 25 wt% lad- der-type IPY containing copolymer （PIPYDTQ） and 75 wt% PC61BM. Moreover, a high open-circuit voltage of 1.02 V and a PCE of 2.40% were achieved from a conventional solar cell based on PIPYDTQ.     

Short Synthesis of [5]‐ and [7]Phenacenes with Silyl Groups at the Axis Positions

[5]Phenacene with trimethylsilyl groups at the axis positions was synthesized by the ruthenium‐catalyzed direct C?H arylation of a 1‐formyl‐7‐phenanthrene‐derived aldimine, followed by sequential Wittig olefination and bismuth‐catalyzed cyclization of the resulting vinyl ethers. By using the same synthetic building blocks and sequential Wittig olefination and photocyclization, the number of fused benzene rings was readily increased to seven to afford 3,12‐disilyl[7]phenacene. The introduction of silyl groups endowed the [n]phenacene frameworks with good solubility, as well as enabling further functionalization. The electronic structure of these new [n]phenacenes was determined by photophysical measurements and by density functional theory calculations, which clearly implied effective conjugation throughout the entire π framework.     

Monolayer Two‐dimensional Molecular Crystals for an Ultrasensitive OFET‐based Chemical Sensor

The sensitivity of conventional thin‐film OFET‐based sensors is limited by the diffusion of analytes through bulk films and remains the central challenge in sensing technology. Now, for the first time, an ultrasensitive (sub‐ppb level) sensor is reported that exploits n‐type monolayer molecular crystals (MMCs) with porous two‐dimensional structures. Thanks to monolayer crystal structure of NDI3HU‐DTYM2 (NDI) and controlled formation of porous structure, a world‐record detection limit of NH₃ (0.1 ppb) was achieved. Moreover, the MMC‐OFETs also enabled direct detection of solid analytes of biological amine derivatives, such as dopamine at an extremely low concentration of 500 ppb. The remarkably improved sensing performances of MMC‐OFETs opens up the possibility of engineering OFETs for ultrasensitive (bio)chemical sensing.     

Solution‐Grown Organic Single‐Crystalline Donor–Acceptor Heterojunctions for Photovoltaics

Organic single crystals are ideal candidates for high‐performance photovoltaics due to their high charge mobility and long exciton diffusion length; however, they have not been largely considered for photovoltaics due to the practical difficulty in making a heterojunction between donor and acceptor single crystals. Here, we demonstrate that extended single‐crystalline heterojunctions with a consistent donor‐top and acceptor‐bottom structure throughout the substrate can be simply obtained from a mixed solution of C₆₀ (acceptor) and 3,6‐bis(5‐(4‐n‐butylphenyl)thiophene‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)pyrrolo[3,4‐c]pyrrole‐1,4‐dione (donor). 46 photovoltaic devices were studied with the power conversion efficiency of (0.255±0.095) % under 1 sun, which is significantly higher than the previously reported value for a vapor‐grown organic single‐crystalline donor–acceptor heterojunction (0.007 %). As such, this work opens a practical avenue for the study of organic photovoltaics based on single crystals.     

Solution‐Based Direct Growth of Organic Crystals on an Active Channel Region for Printable Bottom‐Contact Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

The growth and self‐organization of organic crystals between a source (S) and drain (D) electrode by a method based on the use of a micropipette and isothermal evaporation of the solvent in a two‐liquid system led to the formation of organic‐crystal transistors (see polarized optical micrograph). The method is similar to ink‐jet printing and should be suitable for the fabrication of low‐cost and mass‐producible printed electronic devices.

     

Recent Advances in Isoindigo‐Inspired Organic Semiconductors

Over the past decade, isoindigo has become a widely used electron‐deficient subunit in donor‐acceptor organic semiconductors, and these isoindigo‐based materials have been widely used in both organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and organic field effect transistors (OFETs). Shortly after the development of isoindigo‐based semiconductors, researchers began to modify the isoindigo structure in order to change the optoelectronic properties of the resulting materials. This led to the development of many new isoindigo‐inspired compounds; since 2012, the Kelly Research Group has synthesized a number of these isoindigo analogues and produced a variety of new donor‐acceptor semiconductors. In this Personal Account, recent progress in the field is reviewed. We describe how the field has evolved from relatively simple donor‐acceptor small molecules to structurally complex, highly planarized polymer systems. The relevance of these materials in OPV and OFET applications is highlighted, with particular emphasis on structure‐property relationships.