Special Issue "Organic Electronic Materials"

Guest Editor
Dr. Johannes Gierschner
Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, IMDEA in Nanoscience, Madrid, Spain
Website: http://www.nanomatch.eu/Gierschner/Index.html
E-Mail:
Interests: optical and photophysical properties of conjugated organic materials; supramolecular nanostructured host-guest compounds "molecules in nanochannels"; size determination of suspended nanoparticles

Dear Colleagues,

Since the discovery of conducting polymers more than forty years ago, organic electronic materials are making their way to everyday's life, promising tunable, cheap and flexible materials for displays, lighting, solar panels and microchips. To improve the performance in these devices, several processes have to be optimized, i.e optical absorption, exciton diffusion, charge generation, recombination and transport. These processes are governed by the electronic nature of the film-constituting molecules as well as by their mutual arrangement, which in turn is controlled by the intra-molecular geometrical and electronic properties. A full understanding of these processes to exploit the richness of organic synthesis thus demands intense collaboration of material science, theory, spectroscopy, device physics and engineering.

To reflect the latest developments in the field, we feature a special issue on "Organic Electronic Materials", covering different aspects like synthesis, characterization, processes and devices.

Johannes Gierschner, Ph. D.
Guest Editor

Submission

All papers should be submitted to materials@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special website.

Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed quarterly journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International. Review manuscripts: Before writing their manuscripts, potential authors of review articles should forward the title and a short abstract to materials@mdpi.org. We will then provide feedback on the suitability of the topic.

Open Access publication fees are 300 CHF per paper. English correction fees and/or formatting fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (550 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections).

Starting 1 January 2010, Article Processing Charges are of 800 CHF per accepted article for Materials

Feature Papers

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Quantum Chemistry Aided Design of High Potential Polymers for Organic Photovoltaics
Authors: Markus Koppe, Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf, Gilles Dennler, Sheila Rodman and Dave Waller
Affiliation: Konarka Technologies, Konarka Austria, Altenbergerstrasse 69 A-4040 Linz, Austria
Abstract: The design of polymers for organic photovoltaic applications requires the tuning of their frontier molecular orbital levels to achieve appropriate optical band gaps and the desired open circuit voltages. Moreover, in order to control charge carrier mobility, the effects of bond torsion and planarization by solid state effects have to be understood on a quantitative level. In this article we describe how the design of donor-acceptor polymers can be approached systematically by applying quantum chemical calculations on the "paper and pencil" (Hückel type), semiempirical and ab initio level of theory. The values of optical transition energies, electrical band gaps and torsional potentials of the polymers predicted by the quantum chemical calculations are compared to the corresponding experimental data obtained from absorption spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and charge carrier mobility measurements, covering a wide variety of different classes of polymers.

Regular Papers

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Electron Tunneling in Complex I of the Respiratory Chain
Authors: Tomoyuki Hayashi and Alexei A. Stuchebrukhov
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Abstract: Electron tunneling along the chain of nine FeS clusters in NADH dehydrogenase ( respiratory Complex I) is examined by using state of the art computational methods for electron transfer in proteins. Complex I is the entry point of the respiratory electron transport chain. Tunneling pathways, and rates of electron transfer are discussed. Computer simulations and theoretical modeling of electron transfer reactions in this and other enzymes of the respiratory chain provide important insights into the molecular mechanisms of biological energy generation machinery in aerobic cells.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: A Mechanism of DC-AC Conversion in the Organic Thyristor
Author: Ichiro Terasaki
Affiliation: Dept. of Applied Physics, Waseda Univ., Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
Abstract: The organic thyristor theta-(BEDT-TTF)_2CsM(SCN)_4 exhibits a giant nonlinear conduction at 4 K, which is ascribed to suppression of the charge ordering induced by external current. This material shows an ac current oscillation in a dc voltage like an inverter. In this article we show that this dc-ac conversion arises from a different mechanism from conventional inverter circuits. The current oscillation appears in a sample that does not show negative resistance, and the oscillation amplitude is sensitive to a shunt resistor connected to the sample in series. We analyze the experimental data as an electric circuit, and show that the current oscillation occurs between two I-V curves. We further show that a capacitance component seems to oscillate from a time-resolved capacitance measurement.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Preparation and Characterization of New Inclusion Compounds Using Stable Nitroxide Radicals and an Organic 1-D Nanochannel as a Template
Authors: Hirokazu Kobayashi ¹, Tetsuo Asaij ¹ and Atsushi Tani ²
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Chemisty, Nihon University, College of Humanities and Sciences, 3-25-40, Sakura-jo-sui, Segataya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8550, Japan; E-Mails: hirawk@chs.nihon-u.ac.jp; asaji@chs.nihon-u.ac.jp
² Faculty of Science, Osaka University, 1-1, Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-0043, Japan; E-Mail: atani@ess.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp
Abstract: A new inclusion compound (IC) using di-t-buthyl nitroxide (DBNO) radical and tris(o-phenylenedioxy)cyclotriphosphazene (TPP) (1), which has an organic one-dimensional (1-D) nanochannel in the crystal, is reported. According to the characterization using powder theromogravimetric analysis (TG), ESR measurements and so forth, the composition of the inclusion compound was assigned as TPP:DBNO = 1:0.62. The narrowing of the isotropic ESR adsorption line of 1 was observed with temperature increase from 103 K to room temperature. The line shape indicated a type of 1-D spin diffusion as observed in our previous study of the IC using 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxyl (TEMPO) and TPP.