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Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a highly versatile group of porous materials constructed from molecular building blocks, enabling deliberate tuning of their final bulk properties for a broad range of applications. Understanding their excited-state dynamics is essential for identifying suitable COF materials for applications in electronic devices such as transistors, photovoltaic cells, and water-splitting electrodes. Here, we report on the ultrafast excited-state dynamics of a series of fully conjugated two-dimensional (2D) COFs in which different molecular subunits are connected through imine bonds, using transient absorption spectroscopy. Although these COFs feature different topologies and chromophores, we find that excited states behave similarly across the series. We therefore present a unified model in which charges are generated through rapid singlet-singlet annihilation and show lifetimes of several tens of microseconds. These long-lived charges are of particular interest for optoelectronic devices, and our results point toward the importance of controlling the singlet-singlet annihilation step in order to increase the yield of separated charges.

The potential of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) for realizing porous, crystalline networks with tailored combinations of functional building blocks has attracted considerable scientific interest in the fields of gas storage, photocatalysis, and optoelectronics. Porphyrins are widely studied in biology and chemistry and constitute promising building blocks in the field of electroactive materials, but they reveal challenges regarding crystalline packing when introduced into COF structures due to their nonplanar configuration and strong electrostatic interactions between the heterocyclic porphyrin centers. A series of porphyrin-containing imine-linked COFs with linear bridges derived from terephthalaldehyde, 2,5-dimethoxybenzene-1,4-dicarboxaldehyde, 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxaldehyde and thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dicarboxaldehyde, were synthesized, and their structural and optical properties were examined. By combining X-ray diffraction analysis with density-functional theory (DFT) calculations on multiple length scales, we were able to elucidate the crystal structure of the newly synthesized porphyrin-based COF containing thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dicarboxaldehyde as linear bridge. Upon COF crystallization, the porphyrin nodes lose their 4-fold rotational symmetry, leading to the formation of extended slipped J-aggregate stacks. Steady-state and time-resolved optical spectroscopy techniques confirm the realization of the first porphyrin J-aggregates on a > 50 nm length scale with strongly red-shifted Q-bands and increased absorption strength. Using the COF as a structural template, we were thus able to force the porphyrins into a covalently embedded J-aggregate arrangement. This approach could be transferred to other chromophores; hence, these COFs are promising model systems for applications in photocatalysis and solar light harvesting, as well as for potential applications in medicine and biology.

Light-driven water electrolysis at a semiconductor surface is a promising way to generate hydrogen from sustainable energy sources, but its efficiency is limited by the performance of available photoabsorbers. Here we report the first time investigation of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as a new class of photoelectrodes. The presented 2D-COF structure is assembled from aromatic amine-functionalized tetraphenylethylene and thiophene-based dialdehyde building blocks to form conjugated polyimine sheets, which π-stack in the third dimension to create photoactive porous frameworks. Highly oriented COF films absorb light in the visible range to generate photoexcited electrons that diffuse to the surface and are transferred to the electrolyte, resulting in proton reduction and hydrogen evolution. The observed photoelectrochemical activity of the 2D-COF films and their photocorrosion stability in water pave the way for a novel class of photoabsorber materials with versatile optical and electronic properties that are tunable through the selection of appropriate building blocks and their three-dimensional stacking.

Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D-COFs) are crystalline, porous materials comprising aligned columns of π-stacked building blocks. With a view toward the application of these materials in organic electronics and optoelectronics, the construction of oligothiophene-based COFs would be highly desirable. The realization of such materials, however, has remained a challenge, in particular with respect to laterally conjugated imine-linked COFs. We have developed a new building block design employing an asymmetric modification on an otherwise symmetric backbone that allows us to construct a series of highly crystalline quaterthiophene-derived COFs with tunable electronic properties. Studying the optical response of these materials, we have observed for the first time the formation of a charge transfer state between the COF subunits across the imine bond. We believe that our new building block design provides a general strategy for the construction of well-ordered COFs from various extended building blocks, thus greatly expanding the range of applicable molecules.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) formed by connecting multidentate organic building blocks through covalent bonds provide a platform for designing multifunctional porous materials with atomic precision. As they are promising materials for applications in optoelectronics, they would benefit from a maximum degree of long-range order within the framework, which has remained a major challenge. We have developed a synthetic concept to allow consecutive COF sheets to lock in position during crystal growth, and thus minimize the occurrence of stacking faults and dislocations. Hereby, the three-dimensional conformation of propeller-shaped molecular building units was used to generate well-defined periodic docking sites, which guided the attachment of successive building blocks that, in turn, promoted long-range order during COF formation. This approach enables us to achieve a very high crystallinity for a series of COFs that comprise tri- and tetradentate central building blocks. We expect this strategy to be transferable to a broad range of customized COFs. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are attractive multifunctional porous materials that can be generated with atomic precision. However, endowing them with long-range order—desirable for applications—has remained challenging. Now, propeller-shaped building units have been used that allow consecutive layers to lock in position, resulting in highly crystalline COFs.

Crystallinity and porosity are of central importance for many properties of covalent organic frameworks (COFs), including adsorption, diffusion, and electronic transport. We have developed a new method for strongly enhancing both aspects through the introduction of a modulating agent in the synthesis. This modulator competes with one of the building blocks during the solvothermal COF growth, resulting in highly crystalline frameworks with greatly increased domain sizes reaching several hundreds of nanometers. The obtained materials feature fully accessible pores with an internal surface area of over 2000 m(2) g(-1). Compositional analysis via NMR spectroscopy revealed that the COF-5 structure can form over a wide range of boronic acid-to-catechol ratios, thus producing frameworks with compositions ranging from highly boronic acid-deficient to networks with catechol voids. Visualization of an -SH-functionalized modulating agent via iridium staining revealed that the COF domains are terminated by the modulator. Using functionalized modulators, this synthetic approach thus also provides a new and facile method for the external surface functionalization of COF domains, providing accessible sites for post-synthetic modification reactions. We demonstrate the feasibility of this concept by covalently attaching fluorescent dyes and hydrophilic polymers to the COF surface. We anticipate that the realization of highly crystalline COFs with the option of additional surface functionality will render the modulation concept beneficial for a range of applications, including gas separations, catalysis, and optoelectronics.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) offer a strategy to position molecular semiconductors within a rigid network in a highly controlled and predictable manner. The π-stacked columns of layered two-dimensional COFs enable electronic interactions between the COF sheets, thereby providing a path for exciton and charge carrier migration. Frameworks comprising two electronically separated subunits can form highly defined interdigitated donor–acceptor heterojunctions, which can drive the photogeneration of free charge carriers. Here we report the first example of a photovoltaic device that utilizes exclusively a crystalline organic framework with an inherent type II heterojunction as the active layer. The newly developed triphenylene–porphyrin COF was grown as an oriented thin film with the donor and acceptor units forming one-dimensional stacks that extend along the substrate normal, thus providing an optimal geometry for charge carrier transport. As a result of the degree of morphological precision that can be achieved with COFs and the enormous diversity of functional molecular building blocks that can be used to construct the frameworks, these materials show great potential as model systems for organic heterojunctions and might ultimately provide an alternative to the current disordered bulk heterojunctions.