Low Reorganization Energy Research Articles

A butterfly shape acceptor with rigid skeleton and unique assembly enables both efficient organic photovoltaics and high-speed organic photodetectors

Abstract It remains challenging to design efficient bifunctional semiconductor materials in organic photovoltaic and photodetector devices. Here, we report a butterfly-shaped molecule, named WD-6, which exhibits low energy disorder and small reorganization energy due to its enhanced molecular rigidity and unique assembly with strong intermolecular interaction. The binary photovoltaic device based on PM6:WD-6 achieved an efficiency of 18.41%. Notably, an efficiency of 19.42% was achieved for the ternary device based PM6:BTP-eC9:WD-6. Moreover, the photodetection device based on WD-6 demonstrated an ultrafast response speed (205 ns response time at λ of 820 nm) and a high cutoff frequency of -3 dB (2.45 MHz), surpassing the values of most commercial Si photodiodes. Based on these findings, we show-cased an application of the WD-6-based photodetection device in high-speed optical communication. These results offer valuable insights into the design of organic semiconductor materials capable of simultaneously exhibiting high photovoltaic and photo detective performance.

The Buddleja globosa (Matico) as natural Dye Sensitized Solar Cell: An experimental and theoretical studies based in TD-DFT/ periodic-DFT

The dye sensitizers coming from Buddleja Globosa, a Chilean regional flora, were analyzed and evaluated as a natural dye for the assembly of DSSC. The behavior toward the photoexcitation and electron injection steps was analyzed using time dependent functional theory (TD-DFT) and periodic (Periodic-DFT) calculations using a dye@(TiO2)48 model. The molecules analyzed present in the leaves were verbascoside, luteolin 7-O-glucoside, apigenin 7-O-glucoside, luteolin and gallic acid. The photoexcitation is driven by a π−π* transition localized in the frontier orbitals. These exhibit a ΔEHOMO−LUMO of approximately 4.0 eV which is very broad to facilitate an efficient photoexcitation process even though the LUMO density is localized in the acceptors group. In the adsorption and electron injection was found that the gallic acid and verbascoside facilitate a greater electron transport toward the metallic surface than the other dyes (ΔGinj = -1.52 and -1.03 eV, respectively). This was explained due to a low electron and hole reorganization energy in the gallic acid and verbacoside, respectively. Therefore, the greatest electron injection is originated due to a fast electron-hole transfer. Experimentally, a low overall conversion efficiency (η) was found. Thus, based in the computational discussion, this low efficiency is governed by the behaviour of the photoexcitation and not by the electron injection response.

Role of Near-IR Sensitive Asymmetric A-DA′D–π–A-type Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells: A Theoretical Insight

Non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) molecules attracted huge attention from the photovoltaic community for their potential use in organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, we designed a series of NFA materials (AR1–AR9) for OSCs by altering end-capped moieties. We employed various advanced density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD-DFT) approaches to characterize this designed AR1–AR9 series. Compared to the synthetic reference molecule ([Formula: see text], designed molecules AR1–AR9 revealed a smaller bandgap (1.85 eV), and improved absorption spectra ([Formula: see text] 741 nm) in comparison to [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text] 668 nm), indicating the better potential for the tailored molecules. Furthermore, the designed series (AR1–AR9) shows lower reorganization energy values (for holes and electrons) and lower binding energies (0.323 eV), whereas, improved charge mobilities, showing them better candidates for OSCs. Moreover, frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), open-circuit voltages ([Formula: see text] and improved charge-transfer characteristics have also been investigated. These findings revealed that all developed NFAs exhibited a wide range of exciton dissociation constants and enhanced absorption efficiency with a relatively lower LUMO energy level. Therefore, we believe that these materials will be beneficial in boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSC devices by improving their optoelectronic and photophysical properties.

Ultrafast dynamics of mCP and Br-mCP: Insights from transient absorption spectroscopy

Heavy atom activated organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has attracted considerable interest due to its high phosphorescence quantum yield and prolonged lifetime. This research provides a detailed analysis of the transient absorption spectroscopy of 1,3-Bis(N-carbazolyl)benzene (mCP) and 9,9'-(5-Bromo-1,3-phenylene)bis(9H-carbazole) (Br-mCP) in toluene solution. In the femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectroscopy of mCP, the excited state absorption (ESA) signal decreases at 630 nm while the triplet-triplet absorption (TTA) signal increases at 420 nm. Meanwhile, the isosbestic point observed at 455 nm indicates an intersystem crossing (ISC) lifetime of 15.4 ns. Moving on to the nanosecond transient absorption (ns-TA) spectroscopy, the TTA signal reaches its peak at 27.3 ns before decreasing, with the triplet lifetime of mCP measured at 2.8 μs. Br-mCP exhibits a similar dynamic evolution to mCP, but with a quicker ISC process (9.4 ns) and a longer triplet lifetime (3.9 μs). The quicker ISC process in Br-mCP is ascribed to the presence of heavy atom in the molecular structure, leading to an enhanced spin-orbit coupling constant (ξ(S1, T3)Br-mCP = 1.371 cm-1 > ξ(S1, T4)mCP = 0.060 cm-1). The prolonged triplet lifetime of Br-mCP (3.9 μs > 2.8 μs) results from its lower reorganization energy, effectively reducing non-radiative vibrational energy losses within the molecule. This work significantly enhances our understanding of RTP materials incorporating heavy atoms.

Tuning optoelectronic properties of indandione-based D-A materials by malononitrile group acceptors: A DFT and TD-DFT approach.

Indandione-based materials are promising candidates for organic electronics, offering high electron mobility and tunable optoelectronic properties. In this study, we explore the optoelectronic and photovoltaic properties of indandione-based donor-acceptor (D-A) materials, specifically (R1) and (R2), by introducing malononitrile group acceptors into their molecular structure. These strong electron-withdrawing acceptors are designed to enhance charge transfer and overall material performance. The designed molecules (DM1-DM4) exhibit a low optical band gap of approximately 1.77eV, significantly lower than the reference materials (R1 and R2) at around 2.24eV in a solvent environment. Among the designed molecules, DM4 stands out with superior photovoltaic parameters, including a narrow optical band gap (1.77eV), higher electron affinity (3.49eV), an extended excited state lifetime (10.0ns) owing to its low electron and hole reorganization energies (λe ~ 0.13eV and λh ~ 0.24eV), and improved short-circuit current density (Jsc) of ~ 15.73mA/cm2. Notably, DM4 achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ~ 18.5%, making it an excellent candidate for device applications. A comprehensive computational investigation was carried out on indandione-based D-A materials with malononitrile group acceptors (DM1-DM4) using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) methods, as implemented in Gaussian 16 software. We examined the electronic and optical properties of the proposed molecules through frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analysis, UV-Vis absorption spectra, density of states (DOS), exciton binding energy (Eb), and transition density matrix (TDM) analysis, utilizing GaussView 6.0 and Multiwfn 3.8 software. The photovoltaic parameters and power conversion efficiency (PCE) were evaluated using the Scharber and Alharbi models.

Theoretical Investigation on Carbazole Derivatives as Charge Carriers for Perovskite Solar Cell

The study explores carbazole‐based organic molecules as transport layers in durable perovskite solar cells, focusing on their optoelectronic and charge transfer properties. Thirteen carbazole derivatives are systematically analyzed via density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand their structure and optoelectronic characteristics. Substituents like bromo, phenyl, thiophenyl, and pyridyl at positions 3,6‐ and 2,7‐ of carbazole were studied. Phenyl and thiophenyl substitutions lowered highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels, while bromo and pyridyl increased them, tuning HOMO energies from −5.45 to −6.03 eV. These energies align well with perovskite materials valence bands, with absorbance primarily below 400 nm, complementing perovskite absorption. The compounds showed high light‐harvesting efficiencies (LHEs) (0.22 to 0.94) and improved radiative lifetimes. Theoretical investigations identified most compounds as effective p‐type hole‐transport materials (HTM), except 3,6‐ and 2,7‐dithiophenyl carbazoles, which exhibited n‐type behavior due to low hole reorganization energies. Overall, the study highlights computational design's role in developing carbazole derivatives as promising charge carrier precursors for perovskite solar cells.

Machine learning using fingerprints and dye design in the search of lower hole reorganization energy

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are gaining fame for their cost-effective solution processing. Machine learning is increasingly popular for material design in OSCs. In this study, molecular fingerprints are used to train over 40 machine learning models. The random forest regressor emerges as the most predictive one. 10k new dyes are generated. A pre-trained ML model is used to predict their reorganization energy values. Dyes are selected on the basis of reorganization energy, dyes with lower reorganization energy are retrained. The synthetic accessibility of chosen dyes is then analyzed. Chemical similarity analysis has indicated reasonable resemble among selected dyes.

Aided design and molecular regulatory mechanism of non-fused ring acceptors in the framework of A-D1-D2-A molecular systems

Non-fused ring acceptors (NFRAs) have garnered significant attention due to their low cost, ease of synthesis, and high efficiency. Molecules with asymmetric structures can improve molecular stacking and effectively reduce non-radiative energy loss. So, the asymmetric A-D1-D2-A series NFRAs (DPCT-4F and DPCT-4Cl) were selected as the research objects, and four acceptors (DPCT-D1∼DPCT-D4) were designed using end-capped modification strategies. Theoretical simulations were conducted on the ground and excited state characteristics of DPCT series molecules, and the electron mobility of the dimers formed by these acceptors was calculated. It was found that the simulated energy levels, energy gaps, absorption spectra and open-circuit voltages of original molecules are consistent with the trends in the experiment, ensuring the accuracy of the calculation method. Moreover, the nearly equal bond lengths of the developed compounds and the original molecules at the corresponding positions indicate that end-capping modification strategies have little effect on the molecular bond lengths. However, the instability of C-C single bond results in an increased dihedral angle between dipyran and cyclopentadithiophene. Among these designed molecules, DPCT-D1 and DPCT-D2, modified with -CN/-NO2 functional groups, outperform the reference molecules regarding energy gap, molecular descriptors, absorption spectrum, and exciton binding energy. This demonstrates the superiority of functional group substitution strategies with strong electron-withdrawing ability. Introducing thiophene units enables DPCT-D4 molecule to achieve a higher open-circuit voltage, dipole moment and light capture ability. Additionally, all the designed molecules exhibit higher electron mobility than DPCT-4F. DPCT-D1 shows even higher mobility than the better-performing reference molecule DPCT-4Cl due to its greater electronic coupling strength and lower reorganization energy. Overall, most tailored molecules, particularly DPCT-D1, exhibit superior performance in most critical parameters compared to the reference molecules, demonstrating the design strategy's effectiveness and offering worthwhile theoretical instruction for developing high-performance acceptors.

Tuning of Optoelectronic Characteristics of Quinoxalineimide-based Novel Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Organic Photovoltaic Applications

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have made remarkable progress due to developing novel materials and device architectures. Herein, we designed six new non-fullerene acceptors (QM1–QM6) having a quinoxalineimide (QI) as the central-building-block. We aimed to explore the potential of QI-containing structures for developing high-performance acceptors for OSCs. These designed molecules possess a fusion of the QI unit with a thienylthiophene backbone and are equipped with various efficient end-capping groups. Extensive theoretical calculations were carried out to evaluate the structural and charge distribution characteristics, including the optical, optoelectronics, density of states, transition density matrix, molecular electrostatic potential (ESP), reorganization energies, and photovoltaic properties. The results revealed that the designed series exhibited improved electron–hole pair coherences, efficient charge transportation, and favorable ESP patterns, suggesting their suitability for enhanced optical and electronic characteristics. Furthermore, the hole and electron overlap analyses demonstrated significant overlap in QM1–QM6, indicating efficient charge transfer and higher charge mobilities. Additionally, the analysis of reorganization energies showed low reorganization energy values, indicating favorable charge mobility rates and potential for high-efficiency solar cell devices. This research establishes a strong foundation for utilizing QI-containing fused units as central building blocks for designing high-performance acceptors, opening up new avenues for advancements in OSCs technology.

Ultranarrow Bandgap Electron Acceptor with Low Reorganization Energy and Refined Crystallization Enables Efficient Self-Powered Photodetectors with Spectral Response over 1100 nm

Ultranarrow Bandgap Electron Acceptor with Low Reorganization Energy and Refined Crystallization Enables Efficient Self-Powered Photodetectors with Spectral Response over 1100 nm

Designing of potential polymer donors with lower reorganization energy and chemical space exploration in search of materials for efficient organic solar cells

Machine learning with fascinating material predicting capabilities has emerged as a growing throughput artificial intelligence technology to accelerate the design, screening and prediction of material properties. In this study, chemical descriptors are employed to train machine learning (ML) models for the designing of potential polymer donor materials aimed at enhancing the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). To achieve this, ten ML models are evaluated. Among all, the random forest regressor model has shown better predictive ability. In addition, to quantify the importance of features, the numerical scores of the significance of the features are determined through Feature importance analysis. Moreover, 10k new polymers are generated employing the python-based method and their reorganization energies are further predicted using a pre-trained ML model. The assemblage of polymers is done on the basis of the reorganization energy, those with lower reorganization energy being preferred. Furthermore, the synthetic accessibility and thus the structural diversity among the chosen polymers donors are examined, revealing a structural difference among the chosen polymers. This work paves a way for the designing and screening of efficient semiconductors with low reorganization energy to increase the efficiency of OSCs.

The Development of Quinoxaline-Based Electron Acceptors for High Performance Organic Solar Cells.

In the recent advances of organic solar cells (OSCs), quinoxaline (Qx)-based nonfullerene acceptors (QxNFAs) have attracted lots of attention and enabled the recorded power conversion efficiency approaching 20%. As an excellent electron-withdrawing unit, Qx possesses advantages of many modifiable sites, wide absorption range, low reorganization energy, and so on. To develop promising QxNFAs to further enhance the photovoltaic performance of OSCs, it is necessary to systematically summarize the QxNFAs reported so far. In this review, all the focused QxNFAs are classified into five categories as following: SM-Qx, YQx, fused-YQx, giant-YQx, and polymer-Qx according to the molecular skeletons. The molecular design concepts, relationships between the molecular structure and optoelectronic properties, intrinsic mechanisms of device performance are discussed in detail. At the end, the advantages of this kind of materials are summed up, the molecular develop direction is prospected, the challenges faced by QxNFAs are given, and constructive solutions to the existing problems are advised. Overall, this review presents unique viewpoints to conquer the challenge of QxNFAs and thus boost OSCs development further toward commercial applications.

Designing efficient materials for high-performance of non-fullerene organic solar cells through side-chain engineering on DBT-4F derivatives by non-fused-ring electron acceptors.

For the advancement in fields of organic and perovskite solar cells, various techniques of structural alterations are being employed on previously reported chromophores. In this study, the end-capped engineering is carried out on DBT-4F (R) by modifying terminal acceptors to improve optoelectronic and photovoltaic attributes. Seven molecules (AD1-AD7) are modeled using different push-pull acceptors. DFT/B3LYP/6-31G along with its time-dependent approach (TD-DFT) are on a payroll to investigate ground state geometries, absorption maxima (λmax), energy gap (Eg), excitation energy (Ex), internal reorganization energy, light harvesting efficiency (LHE), dielectric constant, open circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF), etc. of OSCs. AD1 displayed the lowest band gap (1.76eV), highest λmax (876nm), lowest Ex (1.41eV), and lowest binding energy (0.21eV). Among various calculated parameters, all of the sketched molecules demonstrated greater dielectric constant when compared to R. The highest dielectric constant was exhibited by AD3 (56.26). AD5 exhibited maximum LHE (0.9980). Lower reorganization energies demonstrated improved charge mobility. AD5 and AD7 (1.63 and 1.68eV) have higher values of VOC than R (1.51eV). All novel molecules having outperforming attributes will be better candidates to enhance the efficacy of OSCs for future use. Precisely, a DFT and TD-DFT analysis on all of the proposed organic molecules were conducted, using the functional MPW1PW91 at 6-31G (d,p) basis set to examine their optoelectronic aspects, additionally the solvent-state computations were studied with a TD-SCF simulation. For all these simulations, Guassian 09 and GuassView 5.0 were employed. Moreover, the Origin 6.0, Multiwfn 3.8, and PyMOlyze 1.1 software were utilized for the visual depiction of the graphs of absorption, TDM, and DOS, respectively of the studied molecules. A number of crucial aspects such as FMOs, bandgaps, light-harvesting efficiency, electrostatic potential, dipole moment, ionization potential, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, binding energy, interaction coefficient, chemical hardness-softness, and electrophilicity index were also investigated for the studied molecules.

Exploring the effects of mono-bromination on hole-electron transport and distribution in dibenzofuran and dibenzothiophene isomers: a first-principles study.

This study delves into hole-electron transport and distribution properties inherent in mono-brominated dibenzofuran (DBF) and dibenzothiophene (DBT) isomers. As determined by frontier molecular orbitals, all brominated structures have narrower bandgaps than their primary structures. The TD-DFT calculation showed that 2BDBT had the highest absorption wavelength of all molecules at 315.35nm. Notably, the study unveils remarkably low electron and hole reorganization energies due to bromine substitution in DBF and DBT molecules. Specifically, the 4BDBF has the lowest hole reorganization energy of all DBF configurations, 0.229eV. In addition, 3BDBF has 0.226eV less electron reorganization energy than all other molecules. Compared to DBT, 3BDBT has the lowest electron reorganization energy of 0.254eV. Overall, this research sheds significant light on the fundamental electronic and hole transport characteristics of bromine-substituted DBF and DBT isomers, highlighting their promising role in polymer design as donors/acceptors for advanced organic electronic applications. Molecular structures were optimized using Density Functional Theory (DFT) B3LYP/6-311 + + G (d, p) level of theory, and the study further elucidates these molecules' energy levels and absorption spectra through Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory TD-DFT; these calculations were performed using Gaussian 09W software package. The key parameters such as reorganization energies, Electron Localization Function map, Laplacian Bond Order, and NCI-RDG were meticulously examined for the molecules with the results of DFT calculations were analyzed and displayed by utilizing the software packages VMD 1.9.4 and Multiwfn 3.8, aiming to comprehend their charge transport and distribution properties.

High Electronic Coupling between Cu Complexes and Oxidized Dyes Confirmed by Measurements of Driving Force Dependent Regeneration Kinetics in Minimal Electrolyte System.

We confirm fast regeneration kinetics between copper complexes and oxidized organic dyes and the major contribution of electronic coupling (HDA). The highest efficiency of dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cells has been shown by employing Cu complex redox couples. Various groups have reported a fast regeneration rate of oxidized dyes by Cu complexes giving a low driving force attributed to low reorganization energy (λ), but the effect of HDA has not been evaluated. The values of HDA and λ can be derived from driving force dependent transient absorption (TA) measurements. However, analyzing TA decay using Cu complexes is not trivial because accelerated recombination by the presence of Cu2+ complexes and biphasic TA decay often complicates the analysis. Here we employ 16 Cu1+ and Co2+ complexes and two dyes. To simplify the system, i.e., making a minimal electrolyte system, Cu2+ and Co3+ complexes and a common additive of 4-tert-butylpyridine are not used. From the driving force dependent TA decays of oxidized dyes by both Cu1+ and Co2+ complexes, λ for the combination of the Cu complexes and dyes is found to be about 0.15 eV lower than that of Co complexes. Approximately 3 to 5 times higher HDA values of Cu complexes than those of Co complexes are obtained, which is the dominant factor for faster rates. The values vary with the structure of the molecules, showing the possibility of increasing the HDA values further. The higher HDA values of a Cu complex than that of a Co complex are also reproduced by quantum chemical calculations.

Facilitating Electron Transfer by Resizing Cyclocarbon Acceptor from C18 to C16.

Recent advances in synthetic methods, combined with tip-induced on-surface chemistry, have enabled the formation of numerous cyclocarbon molecules. Here, we investigate computationally the experimentally studied C16 and C18 molecules as well as their van der Waals (vdW) complexes with several typical donor and acceptor molecules. Our results demonstrate a remarkable electron-withdrawing ability of cyclocarbon molecules. The vdW complexes of C16 and C18 exhibit a thermodynamically favorable photoinduced electron transfer (ET) from the donor partner to the cyclocarbons that occurs on a picosecond time scale. The lower reorganization energy of C16 compared to C18 leads to a significant acceleration of the ET reactions.

Designing high-efficiency organic semi-conductors for organic photodetectors assisted by machine learning and property prediction

Quantum chemical calculations have been widely utilized to design and explore organic semi-conductors for various photovoltaics applications. Photovoltaic devices such as photodetectors work on the principle of photo-electric-effect and widely used for optical communications. In recent years, machine learning has become famous in many research fields. In present study, we have predicted reorganization energy of organic semi-conductors with the aid of machine learning. Statistical analysis is used to select best molecular descriptors (features). About 10 machine learning models are tested for selecting the best one. Among various tested models, gradient forest regressor and random forest regressor are the top models. By using our new designing approach, easy to synthesize building blocks are connected to design new organic semiconductors. Their reorganization energies are predicted using fast machine learning method. For this purpose, already trained and hyper parameter optimized gradient boosting regressor is used. It is generally accepted that to obtain higher charge mobility molecules should have lower reorganization energy. Ten organic semi-conductors with lower reorganization energy are selected for density functional calculations and their energy levels are calculated. The chemical similarity analysis using clustering and heatmap is also done for selected organic semi-conductors. Synthetic accessibility score is calculated and majority of semi-conductors are easy to synthesize. These molecules are potential candidates for device fabrication. The proposed python-based pipeline has ability to select the molecules for organic photodetectors in fast and cheaper way.

Investigating the impact of end-capped acceptor alterations to dimethyl fluorene-based hole transporting material for perovskite solar cells

Hole-transporting materials (HTMs) could boost the proficiency of third generation-perovskite solar cells since they have ultrafast charge mobility that improves optoelectronic and photovoltaic attributes. Five new H-shaped molecules were sketched using thiophene bridged, end-capped acceptor alteration on a dimethyl fluorene core-based molecule. Planarity measurements, absorption spectra, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), excitation energy (Ex), density of states (DOS), molecular electrostatic potentials (MEPs), transition density matrix (TDM), exciton binding energy, interaction coefficient, hole-electron overlap, open circuit voltage, fill factor, and power conversion efficiency were analyzed via DFT/MPW1P9W1/6-31G (d,p) for evaluating performance of perovskite solar cells. All newly sketched molecules with an A-π-D-π-A skeleton exhibited outstanding optoelectronic properties, including broader absorbance (563–740 nm) in chlorobenzene, indicating better solution processing. Lower band gaps (2.08–2.72 eV) than reference (3.78 eV) indicated efficient electron density transfer. Increased open-circuit voltage (1.55–2.02 eV) along with lower reorganization energies of the electron (0.043249–0.122527 eV) and hole (0.108105–0.148322 eV) lead to effective charge transport capabilities. Higher dipole moments indicated suitable film fabrication. A higher fill factor (0.9166–0.9325) and power conversion efficiency (34.31–45.49 %) led to an improved performance. Concisely, all the newly sketched molecules showed redshifted absorbance, narrower band gaps, deeper HOMO energies, improved charge transfer, higher softness, and smaller hardness values when compared to ZR, which confirms their superiority as future dopant-free HTM for PSCs.

High Electrical Conductivity and Hole Transport in an Insightfully Engineered Columnar Liquid Crystal for Solution-Processable Nanoelectronics.

Discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) are widely acknowledged as a class of organic semiconductors that can harmonize charge carrier mobility and device processability through supramolecular self-assembly. In spite of circumventing such a major challenge in fabricating low-cost charge transport layers, DLC-based hole transport layers (HTLs) have remained elusive in modern organo-electronics. In this work, a minimalistic design strategy is envisioned to effectuate a cyanovinylene-integrated pyrene-based discotic liquid crystal (PY-DLC) with a room-temperature columnar hexagonal mesophase and narrow bandgap for efficient semiconducting behavior. Adequately combined photophysical, electrochemical, and theoretical studies investigate the structure-property relations, logically correlating them with efficient hole transport. With a low reorganization energy of 0.2eV, PY-DLC exhibits superior charge extraction ability from the contact electrodes at low values of applied voltage, achieving an electrical conductivity of 3.22 × 10-4 Sm-1, the highest reported value for any pristine DLC film in a vertical charge transport device. The columnar self-assembly, in conjunction with solution-processable self-healed films, results in commendably elevated values of hole mobility (≈10-3 cm2V-1s-1). This study provides an unprecedented constructive outlook toward the development of DLC semiconductors as practical HTLs in organic electronics.

Self-assembled molecular network with waterwheel-like architecture: experimental and theoretical evaluation toward electron transport capabilities for optoelectronic devices.

In recent times, self-assembled electron transport materials for optoelectronic devices, both solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), have been gaining much interest as they help in fabricating high-efficiency devices. However, designing organic small molecular materials with star-shaped self-assembled networks is a challenge. To achieve this sort of target, we chose triazine and benzene-1,3,5-tricarbonyl cores for developing such architecture, and we developed four molecular systems, vizTCpCN, TCmCN, TmCN, and TpCN. Successful isolation of single crystals followed by structural analysis of TmCN revealed interesting molecular arrangements in the solid state resulting in the formation of a waterwheel type architecture with an extended network bearing characteristic voids. Theoretical calculations was carried out to check their electron transportability. The natural transition orbital calculation helped in understanding the locally excited and charge transfer excited states. The low electron reorganization energies of these molecules indicated that these materials may have potential to be used in electron transport layers of optoelectronic devices, particularly in OLEDs. Moreover, the assembled networks have a relatively wide surface area and linked structures, which are advantageous for the conduction of carriers with poor electron recombination inside the ETL, and these may offer a straightforward channel for electron conduction to the emissive layer. Finally, the fabricated electron-only device indicated that the synthesized materials may be used as ETMs in the electron transport layer of optoelectronic devices.