High‐Efficiency All‐Small‐Molecule Organic Solar Cells Based on an Organic Molecule Donor with Alkylsilyl‐Thienyl Conjugated Side Chains

Two medium‐bandgap p‐type organic small molecules H21 and H22 with an alkylsily‐thienyl conjugated side chain on benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene central units are synthesized and used as donors in all‐small‐molecule organic solar cells (SM‐OSCs) with a narrow‐bandgap n‐type small molecule 2,2′‐((2Z,2′Z)‐((4,4,9,9‐tetrahexyl‐4,9‐dihydro‐s‐indaceno[1,2‐b:5,6‐b′]dithiophene‐2,7‐diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(3‐oxo‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐indene‐2,1‐diylidene))dimalononitrile (IDIC) as the acceptor. In comparison to H21 with 3‐ethyl rhodanine as the terminal group, H22 with cyanoacetic acid esters as the terminal group shows blueshifted absorption, higher charge‐carrier mobility and better 3D charge pathway in blend films. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the SM‐OSCs based on H22:IDIC reaches 10.29% with a higher open‐circuit voltage of 0.942 V and a higher fill factor of 71.15%. The PCE of 10.29% is among the top efficiencies of nonfullerene SM‐OSCs reported in the literature to date.     

Roll‐to‐Roll Production of Graphene Hybrid Electrodes for High‐Efficiency,Flexible Organic Photoelectronics

Despite nearly two decades of research, the absence of ideal, flexible, and transparent electrodes has been the biggest bottleneck for realizing flexible and printable electronics via roll‐to‐roll (R2R) method. A fabrication of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate):graphene:ethyl cellulose (PEDOT:PSS:G:EC) hybrid electrodes by R2R process, which allows for the elimination of strong acid treatment. The high‐performance flexible printable electrode includes a transmittance (T) of 78% at 550 nm and a sheet resistance of 13 Ω sq⁻¹ with excellent mechanical stability. These features arise from the PSS interacting strongly with the ethyoxyl groups from EC promoting a favorable phase separation between PEDOT and PSS chains, and the highly uniform and conductive G:EC enable rearrangement of the PEDOT chains with more expanded conformation surrounded by G:EC via the π–π interaction between G:EC and PEDOT. The hybrid electrodes are fully functional as universal electrodes for outstanding flexible electronic applications. Organic solar cells based on the hybrid electrode exhibit a high power conversion efficiency of 9.4% with good universality for active layer. Moreover, the organic light‐emitting diodes and photodetector devices hold the same level to or outperform those based on indium tin oxide flexible transparent electrodes.     

Recent Progress in n‐Channel Organic Thin‐Film Transistors

Particular attention has been focused on n‐channel organic thin‐film transistors (OTFTs) during the last few years, and the potentially cost‐effective circuitry‐based applications in flexible electronics, such as flexible radiofrequency identity tags, smart labels, and simple displays, will benefit from this fast development. This article reviews recent progress in performance and molecular design of n‐channel semiconductors in the past five years, and limitations and practicable solutions for n‐channel OTFTs are dealt with from the viewpoint of OTFT constitution and geometry, molecular design, and thin‐film growth conditions. Strategy methodology is especially highlighted with an aim to investigate basic issues in this field.     

N‐Type 2D Organic Single Crystals for High‐Performance Organic Field‐Effect Transistors and Near‐Infrared Phototransistors

Organic field‐effect transistors and near‐infrared (NIR) organic phototransistors (OPTs) have attracted world's attention in many fields in the past decades. In general, the sensitivity, distinguishing the signal from noise, is the key parameter to evaluate the performance of NIR OPTs, which is decided by responsivity and dark current. 2D single crystal films of organic semiconductors (2DCOS) are promising functional materials due to their long‐range order in spite of only few molecular layers. Herein, for the first time, air‐stable 2DCOS of n‐type organic semiconductors (a furan‐thiophene quinoidal compound, TFT‐CN) with strong absorbance around 830 nm, by the facile drop‐casting method on the surface of water are successfully prepared. Almost millimeter‐sized TFT‐CN 2DCOS are obtained and their thickness is below 5 nm. A competitive field‐effect electron mobility (1.36 cm² V^?1 s^?1) and high on/off ratio (up to 10⁸) are obtained in air. Impressively, the ultrasensitive NIR phototransistors operating at the off‐state exhibit a very low dark current of ≈0.3 pA and an ultrahigh detectivity (D*) exceeding 6 × 10¹⁴ Jones because the devices can operate in full depletion at the off‐state, superior to the majority of the reported organic‐based NIR phototransistors.