Organic phototransistors using poly(3-hexylthiophene) nanofibres

Enhancing the Performance of Organic Phototransistors Based on Oriented Floating Films of P3HT Assisted by Al-Island Deposition

The fabrication of high-performance Organic Phototransistors (OPTs) by depositing Al-islands atop Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) thin film coated using the unidirectional floating-film transfer method (UFTM) has been realized. Further, the effect of Al-island thickness on the OPTs' performance has been intensively investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, Atomic force microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy analysis. Under the optimized conditions, OPTs' mobility and on-off ratio were found to be 2 × 10-2 cm2 V-1 s-1 and 3 × 104, respectively. Further, the device exhibited high photosensitivity of 105, responsivity of 339 A/W, detectivity of 3 × 1014 Jones, and external quantum efficiency of 7.8 × 103% when illuminated with a 525 nm LED laser (0.3 mW/cm2).

Ultrahigh-Performance Optoelectronic Skin Based on Intrinsically Stretchable Perovskite-Polymer Heterojunction Transistors

The optoelectronic skin is acknowledged as the world's current cutting-edge technology in the fields of wearable healthcare monitoring, soft robotics, artificial retinas, and so on. However, the difficulty in preparing stretchable photosensitive polymers and the high-crystallization nature of most reported photosensitive materials (such as perovskites) severely restrict the development of skin-like optoelectronic devices. Herein, a surface energy-induced self-assembly methodology is proposed to form easily transferrable and flexible perovskite quantum dot (PQD) films with a worm-like morphology. Furthermore, intrinsically stretchable phototransistors (ISTPTs) are fabricated based on a stretchable photosensitive layer heterojunction consisting of worm-like PQD films and hybrid polymer semiconductors. The obtained ISTPTs display highly sensitive response to high-energy photons of X-ray (with a detection limit of 79 nGy s^-1 , that is 560 times lower than commercial medical chest X-ray diagnosis) and ultraviolet (with photosensitivity of 5 × 10⁶ and detectable light intensity of 50 nW cm^-2 among the highest performance of reported photodetectors). In addition, these ISTPTs demonstrate desirable e-skin characteristics with high strain tolerance, high sensing specificity, high optical transparency, and good skin conformability. The surface energy-induced self-assembly methodology for the preparation of ISTPTs is a critical demonstration to enable low-cost and high-performance optoelectronic skins.

Near-Infrared to Visible Organic Upconversion Devices Based on Organic Light-Emitting Field Effect Transistors

The near-infrared (NIR) to visible upconversion devices have attracted great attention because of their potential applications in the fields of night vision, medical imaging, and military security. Herein, a novel all-organic upconversion device architecture has been first proposed and developed by incorporating a NIR absorption layer between the carrier transport layer and the emission layer in heterostructured organic light-emitting field effect transistors (OLEFETs). The as-prepared devices show a typical photon-to-photon upconversion efficiency as high as 7% (maximum of 28.7% under low incident NIR power intensity) and millisecond-scale response time, which are the highest upconversion efficiency and one of the fastest response time among organic upconversion devices as referred to the previous reports up to now. The high upconversion performance mainly originates from the gain mechanism of field-effect transistor structures and the unique advantage of OLEFETs to balance between the photodetection and light emission. Meanwhile, the strategy of OLEFETs also offers the advantage of high integration so that no extra OLED is needed in the organic upconversion devices. The results would pave way for low-cost, flexible and portable organic upconversion devices with high efficiency and simplified processing.

Transparent and Highly Responsive Phototransistors Based on a Solution-Processed, Nanometers-Thick Active Layer, Embedding a High-Mobility Electron-Transporting Polymer and a Hole-Trapping Molecule

Organic materials are suitable for light sensing devices showing unique features such as low cost, large area, and flexibility. Moreover, transparent photodetectors are interesting for smart interfaces, windows, and display-integrated electronics. The ease of depositing ultrathin organic films with simple techniques enables low light absorbing active layers, resulting in the realization of transparent devices. Here, we demonstrate a strategy to obtain high efficiency organic photodetectors and phototransistors based on transparent active layers with a visible transmittance higher than 90%. The photoactive layer is composed of two phases, each a few nanometers thick. First, an acceptor polymer, which is a good electron-transporting material, on top of which a small molecule donor material is deposited, forming noncontinuous domains. The small molecule phase acts as a trap for holes, thus inducing a high photoconductive gain, resulting in a high photoresponsivity. The organic transparent detectors proposed here can reach very high external quantum efficiency and responsivity values, which in the case of the phototransistors can be as high as ∼74000% and 340 A W^-1 at 570 nm respectively, despite an absorber total thickness below 10 nm. Moreover, frequency dependent 2D photocurrent mapping allows discrimination between the contribution of a fast but inefficient and highly spatially localized photoinduced injection mechanism at the electrodes, and the onset of a slower and spatially extended photoconductive process, leading to high responsivity.

Detecting 100 fW cm-2 Light with Trapped Electron Gated Organic Phototransistors

Ultraweak light detection with solid-state and cooling-free photodetectors is important for both fundamental research and practical applications. A general phototransistor architecture for detecting ultraviolet-visible light down to 100 fW cm^-2 at room temperature is demonstrated. The exceptional sensitivity stems from an amplification process triggered by incident light. A responsivity of ≈10⁷ A W^-1 is achieved.

High-performance organic broadband photomemory transistors exhibiting remarkable UV-NIR response

High-performance organic broadband photomemory transistors by photogenerated minority carrier trapping and accumulation kinetics.

Recent advances in polymer phototransistors

In this MiniRev, we will highlight the recent advances in polymer phototransistors.