Highly Ordered Organic Thin Films

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

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