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Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films
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Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 32289

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Jan Genoe

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Guest Editor
IMEC International, Leuven, Belgium
Dr. Cédric Rolin

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Guest Editor
IMEC International, Leuven, Belgium

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thirty years after the groundbreaking invention of the organic photovoltaic (OPV) and organic electroluminescent (OLED) devices by Prof. Tang, research in organic electronics is still vivid, with intense activity both in the academic and industrial worlds. Indeed, organic semiconductors (OSCs) are fascinating materials. At the core of this fascination are three aspects: The strong interaction with light that enables optoelectronic applications; the possibility to tailor molecular structure to meet the demands of specific applications; and the ability to form thin films at low temperature on large flexible substrates. In addition to OPV and OLED, other applications for these materials are organic thin film transistors, organic photodiodes and organic light emitting transistors. Harnessing the potential of OSCs into mass-produced devices has however proven challenging: They suffer from harsh competition of inorganic technologies. The rise of organic electronics still requires thin films with high performance and good mechanical and chemical stability.

One approach to meet these requirements is the enhancement of crystalline order in thin films of OSCs. Indeed, bulk single crystals display superior transport characteristics as compared to their polycrystalline or amorphous counterparts. Single crystalline thin films on inert substrates ideally combine the high performance of single crystals with the ease of integration of thin films. The recent development of processing methods to achieve highly ordered films of OSCs follows this trend. Unidirectional methods that separate the steps of nucleation and subsequent growth are very promising. Other approaches exist, such as templated growth, annealing, etc.

In this Special Issue, we are calling for papers that report on the growth of thin organic film with high order. We are broadly interested in fabrication methods for thin organic films of small molecules or polymers onto amorphous or crystalline substrates. The final applications may be among the ones cited above, though not exclusively.

Prof. Jan Genoe
Dr. Cedric Rolin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic electronics
  • organic semiconductor
  • OTFT
  • OLED
  • OPV
  • OPD
  • organic thin film
  • crystalline thin film
  • single crystalline film
  • organic crystal
  • meniscus guided coating
  • unidirectional solidification
  • shear coating
  • zone-casting
  • templated growth
  • epitaxy

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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4252 KiB  
Article
320-nm Flexible Solution-Processed 2,7-dioctyl[1] benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene Transistors
by Hang Ren, Qingxin Tang, Yanhong Tong and Yichun Liu
Materials 2017, 10(8), 918; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10080918 - 09 Aug 2017
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5227
Abstract
Flexible organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have received extensive attention due to their outstanding advantages such as light weight, low cost, flexibility, large-area fabrication, and compatibility with solution-processed techniques. However, compared with a rigid substrate, it still remains a challenge to obtain good device [...] Read more.
Flexible organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have received extensive attention due to their outstanding advantages such as light weight, low cost, flexibility, large-area fabrication, and compatibility with solution-processed techniques. However, compared with a rigid substrate, it still remains a challenge to obtain good device performance by directly depositing solution-processed organic semiconductors onto an ultrathin plastic substrate. In this work, ultrathin flexible OTFTs are successfully fabricated based on spin-coated 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) films. The resulting device thickness is only ~320 nm, so the device has the ability to adhere well to a three-dimension curved surface. The ultrathin C8-BTBT OTFTs exhibit a mobility as high as 4.36 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an on/off current ratio of over 106. These results indicate the substantial promise of our ultrathin flexible C8-BTBT OTFTs for next-generation flexible and conformal electronic devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films)
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3597 KiB  
Article
Steering the Properties of MoOx Hole Transporting Layers in OPVs and OLEDs: Interface Morphology vs. Electronic Structure
by Wouter Marchal, Inge Verboven, Jurgen Kesters, Boaz Moeremans, Christopher De Dobbelaere, Gilles Bonneux, Ken Elen, Bert Conings, Wouter Maes, Hans Gerd Boyen, Wim Deferme, Marlies Van Bael and An Hardy
Materials 2017, 10(2), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10020123 - 30 Jan 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6506
Abstract
The identification, fine‐tuning, and process optimization of appropriate hole transporting layers (HTLs) for organic solar cells is indispensable for the production of efficient and sustainable functional devices. In this study, the optimization of a solution‐processed molybdenum oxide (MoOx) layer fabricated from a combustion [...] Read more.
The identification, fine‐tuning, and process optimization of appropriate hole transporting layers (HTLs) for organic solar cells is indispensable for the production of efficient and sustainable functional devices. In this study, the optimization of a solution‐processed molybdenum oxide (MoOx) layer fabricated from a combustion precursor is carried out via the introduction of zirconium and tin additives. The evaluation of the output characteristics of both organic photovoltaic (OPV) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices demonstrates the beneficial influence upon the addition of the Zr and Sn ions compared to the generic MoOx precursor. A dopant effect in which the heteroatoms and the molybdenum oxide form a chemical identity with fundamentally different structural properties could not be observed, as the additives do not affect the molybdenum oxide composition or electronic band structure. An improved surface roughness due to a reduced crystallinity was found to be a key parameter leading to the superior performance of the devices employing modified HTLs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films)
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Review

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17 pages, 6505 KiB  
Review
Magnetoresistance Effect and the Applications for Organic Spin Valves Using Molecular Spacers
by Xiannian Yao, Qingqing Duan, Junwei Tong, Yufang Chang, Lianqun Zhou, Gaowu Qin and Xianmin Zhang
Materials 2018, 11(5), 721; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11050721 - 03 May 2018
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4525
Abstract
Organic spin devices utilizing the properties of both spin and charge inherent in electrons have attracted extensive research interest in the field of future electronic device development. In the last decade, magnetoresistance effects, including giant magetoresistance and tunneling magnetoresistance, have been observed in [...] Read more.
Organic spin devices utilizing the properties of both spin and charge inherent in electrons have attracted extensive research interest in the field of future electronic device development. In the last decade, magnetoresistance effects, including giant magetoresistance and tunneling magnetoresistance, have been observed in organic spintronics. Significant progress has been made in understanding spin-dependent transport phenomena, such as spin injection or tunneling, manipulation, and detection in organic spintronics. However, to date, materials that are effective for preparing organic spin devices for commercial applications are still lacking. In this report, we introduce basic knowledge of the fabrication and evaluation of organic spin devices, and review some remarkable applications for organic spin valves using molecular spacers. The current bottlenecks that hinder further enhancement for the performance of organic spin devices is also discussed. This report presents some research ideas for designing organic spin devices operated at room temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films)
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7590 KiB  
Review
Hole-Transporting Materials for Printable Perovskite Solar Cells
by Paola Vivo, Jagadish K. Salunke and Arri Priimagi
Materials 2017, 10(9), 1087; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10091087 - 15 Sep 2017
Cited by 91 | Viewed by 15289
Abstract
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent undoubtedly the most significant breakthrough in photovoltaic technology since the 1970s, with an increase in their power conversion efficiency from less than 5% to over 22% in just a few years. Hole-transporting materials (HTMs) are an essential building [...] Read more.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent undoubtedly the most significant breakthrough in photovoltaic technology since the 1970s, with an increase in their power conversion efficiency from less than 5% to over 22% in just a few years. Hole-transporting materials (HTMs) are an essential building block of PSC architectures. Currently, 2,2’,7,7’-tetrakis-(N,N’-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9’-spirobifluorene), better known as spiro-OMeTAD, is the most widely-used HTM to obtain high-efficiency devices. However, it is a tremendously expensive material with mediocre hole carrier mobility. To ensure wide-scale application of PSC-based technologies, alternative HTMs are being proposed. Solution-processable HTMs are crucial to develop inexpensive, high-throughput and printable large-area PSCs. In this review, we present the most recent advances in the design and development of different types of HTMs, with a particular focus on mesoscopic PSCs. Finally, we outline possible future research directions for further optimization of the HTMs to achieve low-cost, stable and large-area PSCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films)
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