Nanoconfining solution-processed organic semiconductors for emerging optoelectronics
Solution-processable organic materials for emerging electronics can generally be divided into two classes of semiconductors, organic small molecules and polymers. The theoretical thermodynamic limits of device performance are largely determined by the molecular structure of these compounds, and adva...
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| Published in | Chemical Society reviews Vol. 5; no. 17; pp. 9375 - 939 |
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| Main Authors | , , , , |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
London
Royal Society of Chemistry
07.09.2021
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Solution-processable organic materials for emerging electronics can generally be divided into two classes of semiconductors, organic small molecules and polymers. The theoretical thermodynamic limits of device performance are largely determined by the molecular structure of these compounds, and advances in synthetic routes have led to significant progress in charge mobilities and light conversion and light emission efficiencies over the past several decades. Still, the uncontrolled formation of out-of-equilibrium film microstructures and unfavorable polymorphs during rapid solution processing remains a critical bottleneck facing the commercialization of these materials. This tutorial review provides an overview of the use of nanoconfining scaffolds to impose order onto solution-processed semiconducting films to overcome this limitation. For organic semiconducting small molecules and polymers, which typically exhibit strong crystal growth and charge transport anisotropy along different crystallographic directions, nanoconfining crystallization within nanopores and nanogrooves can preferentially orient the fast charge transport direction of crystals with the direction of current flow in devices. Nanoconfinement can also stabilize high-performance metastable polymorphs by shifting their relative Gibbs free energies
via
increasing the surface area-to-volume ratio. Promisingly, such nanoconfinement-induced improvements in film and crystal structures have been demonstrated to enhance the performance and stability of emerging optoelectronics that will enable large-scale manufacturing of flexible, lightweight displays and solar cells.
This tutorial review highlights the role of nanoconfinement in selecting for orientations and polymorphs of organic semiconductor crystals that are optimized for optoelectronic processes, including charge transport and light emission. |
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| Bibliography: | Stephanie Lee is an associate professor in the Chemistry Department at New York University and is a member of the Molecular Design Institute. She studied chemical engineering at MIT and Princeton University before joining NYU as a postdoctoral fellow from 2012-2014. From 2014-2020, she was an assistant/associate professor in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department at Stevens Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the crystal engineering of solution-processable organic and hybrid materials for emerging optoelectronic applications. Yuze Zhang is a second-year PhD student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ USA. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Tianjin University in 2014 and his Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2016. After working in industry for three years, he returned to Stevens for his PhD studies. His research focuses on the rheology of organic small molecule melts and their crystallization behavior. Min-Woo Kim is a postdoctoral researcher in the Chemistry Department at New York University, New York, USA. Prior to joining NYU, he studied electrical engineering and materials science engineering from Myoungji University and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, respectively. His research focuses on the crystal engineering of organic/inorganic materials and the characterization electronic/optoelectronic properties for flexible and lightweight devices. Alina Chen is in her final year completing her Bachelor of Engineering in chemical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. She performed research with the Lee group in the summer of 2020 to use machine learning to understand parameters governing crystallization behavior in small molecule systems. She plans to pursue her interest in developing new materials for electronic and photonic applications in a graduate program in the future. Aida Alaei is a second-year PhD student in the Chemistry Department at New York University, New York, USA. Prior to joining NYU, she earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Material Science and Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology and Stevens Institute of Technology, respectively. Her research revolves around scaffold-directed solution-phase crystallization of emerging semiconductors, including organic small molecules and halide perovskites. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 0306-0012 1460-4744 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/d1cs00430a |