Deep-Red to Near-Infrared Materials for Optoelectronics: Developments and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The generation, detection and use of deep-red and near-infrared lights is a current “hot topic” in organic electronics. The growing demand for digital biometric sensing and hi-tech safety, including in personal/national security and food/health/medicinal protection, is promoting the exploration of the use of devices working in these spectral regions to answer these needs. This radiation has the advantages of being safe, non-destructive and non-invasive, hence suiting all “real-time” uses. Applications exploiting deep-red and NIR radiation span military (e.g., navigation, night vision and weapon detection), commercial (e.g., communications, aerospace and medical imaging), public (e.g., atmospheric sounding, pollution control, meteorology and environmental monitoring) and academic sectors.

Currently, the deep-red to NIR market is dominated by epitaxially growth inorganic semiconductors which employ toxic or critical raw materials (e.g., InGaAs and HgCdTe).

In this regard, organic materials  offers a unique opportunity  to integrate the whole sector of the deep-red to NIR optoelectronics into the new circular economy scenario according to the current global challenges. Research efforts in the field are driven by the quest of innovative materials and advanced device concepts, in line with the current demand of flexible, scalable, lightweight and biocompatible technologies.

Therefore, organic materials and semiconductors (OMs and OSCs), characterized by p-conjugated scaffolds, hold great potential compared to inorganic semiconductors for the development of novel technologies including OLEDs, solar cells and detectors.

This Special Issue is addressed to researchers, institutions and industrial players willing to contribute and share the advancement of deep-red to near-IR technologies in terms of:

• Novel absorbing or emissive materials;
• Organic or organometallic chromophores and luminophores;
• Device fabrication and characterization techniques;
• Narrow-bandgap systems;
• Visible-light transparency;
• Applications in OLEDs, solar cells, sensors and photodetectors.

Dr. Alberto Bossi
Dr. Marta Penconi
Guest Editors

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• near-infrared
• organic dyes
• organometallic compounds
• polymers
• optical spectroscopies
• OLEDs
• photodetector
• organic photovoltaics