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A new charge recombination layer for inverted tandem polymer solar cells is reported. A bilayer of MoOX/Al2O3:ZnO nanolaminate is shown to enable efficient charge recombination in inverted tandem cells. A polymer surface modification on the MoOX/Al2O3:ZnO nanolaminate bilayer increases the work function contrast between the two outward surfaces of the charge recombination layer, further improving the performance of tandem solar cells. An analysis of the electrical, optical, and surface properties of the charge recombination layer is presented. Inverted tandem polymer solar cells, with two photoactive layers comprising poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):indene-C60 bisadduct (IC60BA) for the bottom cell and poly[(4,8-bis-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene)-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexanoyl)-thieno[3,4-b]thiophene))-2,6-diyl] (PBDTTT-C):[6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) for the top cell, yield an open-circuit voltage of 1481 mV ± 15 mV, a short-circuit current density of 7.1 mA cm−2 ± 0.1 mA cm−2, and a fill factor of 0.62 ± 0.01, resulting in a power conversion efficiency of 6.5% ± 0.1% under simulated AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm−2 illumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is p-doped by the new soluble dopant molybdenum tris[1-(methoxycarbonyl)-2-(trifluoromethyl)-ethane-1,2-dithiolene] and investigated via photoemission spectroscopy and transport measurements. Soft-contact transfer lamination of thin layers of the doped P3HT on undoped polymer layers is used to create spatially-confined doped regions, which serve as hole-injection contacts on P3HT diodes. This strategy is then used to create efficient hole-collecting contacts on solution-processed inverted polymer solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic and printed electronics technologies require conductors with a work function that is sufficiently low to facilitate the transport of electrons in and out of various optoelectronic devices. We show that surface modifiers based on polymers containing simple aliphatic amine groups substantially reduce the work function of conductors including metals, transparent conductive metal oxides, conducting polymers, and graphene. The reduction arises from physisorption of the neutral polymer, which turns the modified conductors into efficient electron-selective electrodes in organic optoetectronic devices. These polymer surface modifiers are processed in air from solution, providing an appealing alternative to chemically reactive low-work function metals. Their use can pave the way to simplified manufacturing of tow-cost and large-area organic electronic technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on numerical simulations that analyze the linear and nonlinear optical properties of copper-based metal-dielectric photonic bandgap (MDPBGs) structures with transmittance passbands in the visible and near-infrared. The nonlinear optical properties are discussed within the context of a Fermi-smearing process and simulations carried out at 570 nm, around the onset of interband transitions in Cu. Two different geometries for the realization of MDPBGs are analyzed to demonstrate that the unit cell geometry plays an important role in finding a better tradeoff between optical transparency and nonlinear optical response. It is demonstrated that compact and transparent structures can combine a maximum transmittance of 60%, passband bandwidths of 345 nm, and yield nonlinear phase shifts on the order of ΔΦ0 = -0.010 and q0 = 0.014 cm-1 at I0 1 GW/cm² for pulses in the femtosecond temporal range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2,5-Diphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole has been widely used as an acceptor portion of donor-acceptor fluorophores that exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), but analogous 2-alkyl-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazoles have been much less widely investigated. Here the properties of carbazole-substituted 2-methyl-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazoles are compared to those of their 2,5-diphenyl analogues. The fluorescence of each of the former compounds is blue-shifted by ca. 50-100 meV relative to that in the latter, while similar estimated values of the singlet-triplet energy separation (Δ E ST ) are maintained. In particular, 2-methyl-5-(penta(9-carbazolyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole and 2-methyl-5-(penta(3,6-di- tert -butyl-9-carbazolyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole exhibit solution fluorescence maxima of 466 and 485 nm and estimated Δ E ST values of 0.12 and 0.03 eV, respectively. In both cases the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rates inferred from their solution fluorescence behavior are over twice those of the corresponding 2-phenyl derivatives. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in which the 2-methyl derivatives are used as emitters yield external quantum efficiency (EQE) values of up to 23%. OLEDs with 2-methyl-5-(penta(9-carbazolyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole and 2-methyl-5-(penta(3,6-di- tert -butyl-9-carbazolyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole emitters show reduced efficiency rolloff at high current densities relative to their 2-phenyl counterparts, the latter exhibiting an EQE of 16% at 1000 cd m -2 .

Stretchable optoelectronics made of elastomeric semiconductors could enable the integration of intelligent systems with soft materials, such as those of the biological world. Organic semiconductors and photodiodes have been engineered to be elastomeric; however, for photodetector applications, it remains a challenge to identify an elastomeric bulk heterojunction (e-BHJ) photoactive layer that combines a low Young’s modulus and a high strain at break that yields organic photodiodes with low electronic noise values and high photodetector performance. Here, a blend of an elastomer, a donor-like polymer, and an acceptor-like molecule yields a skin-like e-BHJ with a Young’s modulus of a few megapascals, comparable to values of human tissues, and a high strain at break of 189%. Elastomeric organic photodiodes based on e-BHJ photoactive layers maintain low electronic noise current values in the tens of femtoamperes range and noise equivalent power values in the tens of picowatts range under at least 60% strain.

Molecular p-type electrical dopants have been proven useful to fine-tune the optoelectronic properties of bulk organic semiconductors and their interfaces. Here, the volume in polymer films and its role in solution-based electrical p-type doping using phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) are studied. The polymer film volume was controlled using two approaches. One is based on heating both the PMA solution and the film prior to immersion. The second is based on coating the polymer film with a liquid blend that contains the PMA solution and a swelling solvent. 31 P NMR and FTIR experiments indicate that the Keggin structure appears to be preserved throughout the doping process. Results show that increasing the polymer volume facilitates the infiltration of the PMA Keggin structure, which results in an increased electrical p-type doping level.

Silicon photodiodes are the foundation of light-detection technology; yet their rigid structure and limited area scaling at low cost hamper their use in several emerging applications. A detailed methodology for the characterization of organic photodiodes based on polymeric bulk heterojunctions reveals the influence that charge-collecting electrodes have on the electronic noise at low frequency. The performance of optimized organic photodiodes is found to rival that of low-noise silicon photodiodes in all metrics within the visible spectral range, except response time, which is still video-rate compatible. Solution-processed organic photodiodes offer several design opportunities exemplified in a biometric monitoring application that uses ring-shaped, large-area, flexible, organic photodiodes with silicon-level performance., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)

Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials are advantageous as emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) due to their ability to utilize all excited states formed by charge recombination for light emission, potentially leading to 100% internal quantum efficiency. As in conventional fluorescent or phosphorescent OLEDs, TADF emitters are commonly doped at a relatively low concentration in a host matrix. However, increasing evidence suggests that balanced ambipolar transport properties and small aggregation-induced fluorescence quenching allow TADF emitters to be used alone in so-called host-free OLEDs. Here, we report host-free OLEDs in which the emissive layers (EMLs) consist solely of a yellow-green-emitting TADF compound, 5,5'-(2,3,5,6-tetra(carbazol-9-yl)-1,4-phenylene)bis(2-(4-( tert-butyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole), TCZPBOX. Devices with this host-free EML yield a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 21%, current efficacy (CE) of 73 cd/A, and power efficacy (PE) of 79 lm/W at a luminance of 10 cd/m 2 . At a high luminance of 10,000 cd/m 2 , a high EQE of 13% is maintained. A maximum luminance of 120,000 cd/m 2 is reached at an applied voltage of 9.8 V. When TCZPBOX was doped in the host 2,6-di(carbazol-9-yl)-pyridine (PYD2) at 40 wt %, the device yielded a maximum EQE of 28%, CE of 94 cd/A, and PE of 100 lm/W at 10 cd/m 2 .

2-(4-(9,9-Dimethylacridin-10(9 H )-yl)phenyl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole has an energy difference between the lowest excited singlet and triplet states (Δ E ST ) of ca. 0.24 eV. Introduction of two electronegative fluorine atoms onto the acceptor portion of the molecule to give 2-(4-(9,9-dimethylacridin-10(9 H )-yl)-3,5-difluorophenyl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole lowers the energy of the singlet emission with a negligible effect on the corresponding triplet energy, leading to a donor-acceptor compound with decreased Δ E ST of ca. 0.13 eV that displays thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Organic light-emitting diodes fabricated using the latter compound display high EQE max of 21.9% at a luminance of 10 cd/m 2 and sky-blue emission, however, they suffer from a large efficiency roll-off at increased luminance., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

We report on two π-conjugated donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) molecules of amphiphilic nature, aiming to promote intermolecular ordering and carrier mobility in organic electronic devices. Diketopyrrolopyrrole was selected as the acceptor moiety that was disubstituted with nonpolar and polar functional groups, thereby providing the amphiphilic structures. This structural design resulted in materials with a strong intermolecular order in the solid state, which was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of ordered mono- and multilayers were transferred onto glass and silicon substrates, with layer quality, coverage, and intermolecular order controlled by layer compression pressure on the LB trough. Organic field-effect transistors and organic photovoltaics devices with active layers consisting of the amphiphilic conjugated D-A-D-type molecules were constructed to demonstrate that the LB technique is an effective layer-by-layer deposition approach to fabricate self-assembled, ordered thin films.

Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) can be fabricated at moderate temperatures and through cost-effective solution-based processes on a wide range of low-cost flexible and deformable substrates. Although the charge mobility of state-of-the-art OTFTs is superior to that of amorphous silicon and approaches that of amorphous oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs), their operational stability generally remains inferior and a point of concern for their commercial deployment. We report on an exhaustive characterization of OTFTs with an ultrathin bilayer gate dielectric comprising the amorphous fluoropolymer CYTOP and an Al 2 O 3 :HfO 2 nanolaminate. Threshold voltage shifts measured at room temperature over time periods up to 5.9 × 10 5 s do not vary monotonically and remain below 0.2 V in microcrystalline OTFTs (μc-OTFTs) with field-effect carrier mobility values up to 1.6 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . Modeling of these shifts as a function of time with a double stretched-exponential (DSE) function suggests that two compensating aging mechanisms are at play and responsible for this high stability. The measured threshold voltage shifts at temperatures up to 75°C represent at least a one-order-of-magnitude improvement in the operational stability over previous reports, bringing OTFT technologies to a performance level comparable to that reported in the scientific literature for other commercial TFTs technologies.

Organic and printed electronics technologies require conductors with a work function that is sufficiently low to facilitate the transport of electrons in and out of various optoelectronic devices. We show that surface modifiers based on polymers containing simple aliphatic amine groups substantially reduce the work function of conductors including metals, transparent conductive metal oxides, conducting polymers, and graphene. The reduction arises from physisorption of the neutral polymer, which turns the modified conductors into efficient electron-selective electrodes in organic optoelectronic devices. These polymer surface modifiers are processed in air from solution, providing an appealing alternative to chemically reactive low-work function metals. Their use can pave the way to simplified manufacturing of low-cost and large-area organic electronic technologies.

Variable power splitting ratio 2x2 MMI couplers using multimode waveguide holograms are analyzed. Theoretical analysis shows that variable splitting ratios can be obtained with surface relief holograms on MMI couplers with fixed dimensions. Devices with paired-imaging lengths are designed on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Beam propagation simulations are used to verify a matrix theory analysis and to investigate proposed device performance. Fabrication tolerance of the proposed device is also analyzed.