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Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices

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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2013) | Viewed by 98208

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Do-Hoon Hwang

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea
Interests: polymer synthesis; organic electronic materials; polymer light-emitting diodes; organic thin film transistors; organic photovoltaic devices; dye-sensitized solar cells, organic memory devices; photo-curable polymers; organic insulators; photo-resists

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Semiconducting polymers have attracted much scientific and technological research interest during the past few decades because of their potential use as electro-active materials in diverse organic electronic devices. Conjugated polymers have semiconducting properties and can replace silicon in currently using electronic devices such as transistors, photo-detectors, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, sensors and so on. Organic semiconductor has many potential advantages over silicon-based inorganic semiconductors including their lightweight, flexible nature, and cost-effective manufacturing process that can include various printing techniques such as roll-to-roll processing. This special issue will focus on the current state-of-the-art in the applications of semiconducting polymers in organic electronic devices. Papers are sought on research results in design, synthesis, and characterization of new semiconducting polymers especially for polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs), organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), electronic sensors, and so on.

Prof. Dr. Do-Hoon Hwang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

semiconducting polymers
conjugated polymers
polymer light-emitting diodes
organic thin film transistors
organic photovoltaic cells
sensors

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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2095 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transparent Conductive Films Fabricated from Polythiophene Nanofibers Composited with Conventional Polymers

by Borjigin Aronggaowa, Yuriko Toda, Noriyuki Ito, Kazuhiro Shikinaka and Takeshi Shimomura

Polymers 2013, 5(4), 1325-1338; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym5041325 - 19 Nov 2013

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 7618

Abstract

Transparent, conductive films were prepared by compositing poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofibers with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The transparency, conductivity, atmospheric stability, and mechanical strength of the resulting nanofiber composite films when doped with AuCl₃ were evaluated and compared with those of P3HT nanofiber mats. The conductivity of the nanofiber composite films was 4.1 S∙cm⁻¹, which is about seven times lessthan that which was previously reported for a nanofiber mat with the same optical transmittance (~80%) reported by Aronggaowa et al. The time dependence of the transmittance, however, showed that the doping state of the nanofiber composite films in air was more stable than that of the nanofiber mats. The fracture stress of the nanofiber composite film was determined to be 12.3 MPa at 3.8% strain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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801 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrochemical and Spectroelectrochemical Properties of a New Donor–Acceptor Polymer Containing 3,4-Dialkoxythiophene and 2,1,3-Benzothiadiazole Units

by Erika Herrera Calderon, Milind Dangate, Norberto Manfredi, Alessandro Abbotto, Matteo M. Salamone, Riccardo Ruffo and Claudio M. Mari

Polymers 2013, 5(3), 1068-1080; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym5031068 - 12 Aug 2013

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 7820

Abstract

A new heteroarylene-vinylene donor-acceptor low bandgap polymer, the poly(DEHT-V-BTD), containing vinylene-spaced efficient donor (dialkoxythiophene) and acceptor (benzothiadiazole) moieties, is presented. Electropolymerization has been carried out by several electrochemical techniques and the results are compared. In particular, the pulsed potentiostatic method was able to provide layers with sufficient amounts of material. Cyclic voltammetries showed reversible behavior towards both p- and n-doping. The HOMO, LUMO, and bandgap energies were estimated to be −5.3, −3.6 and 1.8 eV, respectively. In situ UV-Vis measurements have established that the presence of the vinylene group stabilizes the formation of polaronic charge carriers even at high doping levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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Review

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1664 KiB

Open AccessReview

Organic Semiconductor/Insulator Polymer Blends for High-Performance Organic Transistors

by Wi Hyoung Lee and Yeong Don Park

Polymers 2014, 6(4), 1057-1073; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym6041057 - 08 Apr 2014

Cited by 75 | Viewed by 20119

Abstract

We reviewed recent advances in high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on organic semiconductor/insulator polymer blends. Fundamental aspects of phase separation in binary blends are discussed with special attention to phase-separated microstructures. Strategies for constructing semiconductor, semiconductor/dielectric, or semiconductor/passivation layers in OFETs by blending organic semiconductors with an insulating polymer are discussed. Representative studies that utilized such blended films in the following categories are covered: vertical phase-separation, processing additives, embedded semiconductor nanowires. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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375 KiB

Open AccessReview

Development of Polymer Acceptors for Organic Photovoltaic Cells

by Yujeong Kim and Eunhee Lim

Polymers 2014, 6(2), 382-407; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym6020382 - 10 Feb 2014

Cited by 64 | Viewed by 13671

Abstract

This review provides a current status report of the various n-type polymer acceptors for use as active materials in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). The polymer acceptors are divided into four categories. The first section of this review focuses on rylene diimide-based polymers, including perylene diimide, naphthalene diimide, and dithienocoronene diimide-based polymers. The high electron mobility and good stability of rylene diimides make them suitable for use as polymer acceptors in OPVs. The second section deals with fluorene and benzothiadiazole-based polymers such as poly(9,9’-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole), and the ensuing section focuses on the cyano-substituted polymer acceptors. Cyano-poly(phenylenevinylene) and poly(3-cyano-4-hexylthiophene) have been used as acceptors in OPVs and exhibit high electron affinity arising from the electron-withdrawing cyano groups in the vinylene group of poly(phenylenevinylene) or the thiophene ring of polythiophene. Lastly, a number of other electron-deficient groups such as thiazole, diketopyrrolopyrrole, and oxadiazole have also been introduced onto polymer backbones to induce n-type characteristics in the polymer. Since the first report on all-polymer solar cells in 1995, the best power conversion efficiency obtained with these devices to date has been 3.45%. The overall trend in the development of n-type polymer acceptors is presented in this review. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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19078 KiB

Open AccessReview

Structure and Morphology Control in Thin Films of Conjugated Polymers for an Improved Charge Transport

by Haiyang Wang, Yaozhuo Xu, Xinhong Yu, Rubo Xing, Jiangang Liu and Yanchun Han

Polymers 2013, 5(4), 1272-1324; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym5041272 - 18 Nov 2013

Cited by 89 | Viewed by 24498

Abstract

The morphological and structural features of the conjugated polymer films play an important role in the charge transport and the final performance of organic optoelectronics devices [such as organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) and organic photovoltaic cell (OPV), etc.] in terms of crystallinity, packing of polymer chains and connection between crystal domains. This review will discuss how the conjugated polymer solidify into, for instance, thin-film structures, and how to control the molecular arrangement of such functional polymer architectures by controlling the polymer chain rigidity, polymer solution aggregation, suitable processing procedures, etc. These basic elements in intrinsic properties and processing strategy described here would be helpful to understand the correlation between morphology and charge transport properties and guide the preparation of efficient functional conjugated polymer films correspondingly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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4177 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nanomembranes and Nanofibers from Biodegradable Conducting Polymers

by Elena Llorens, Elaine Armelin, María Del Mar Pérez-Madrigal, Luís Javier Del Valle, Carlos Alemán and Jordi Puiggalí

Polymers 2013, 5(3), 1115-1157; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym5031115 - 17 Sep 2013

Cited by 85 | Viewed by 22791

Abstract

This review provides a current status report of the field concerning preparation of fibrous mats based on biodegradable (e.g., aliphatic polyesters such as polylactide or polycaprolactone) and conducting polymers (e.g., polyaniline, polypirrole or polythiophenes). These materials have potential biomedical applications (e.g., tissue engineering or drug delivery systems) and can be combined to get free-standing nanomembranes and nanofibers that retain the better properties of their corresponding individual components. Systems based on biodegradable and conducting polymers constitute nowadays one of the most promising solutions to develop advanced materials enable to cover aspects like local stimulation of desired tissue, time controlled drug release and stimulation of either the proliferation or differentiation of various cell types. The first sections of the review are focused on a general overview of conducting and biodegradable polymers most usually employed and the explanation of the most suitable techniques for preparing nanofibers and nanomembranes (i.e., electrospinning and spin coating). Following sections are organized according to the base conducting polymer (e.g., Sections 4–6 describe hybrid systems having aniline, pyrrole and thiophene units, respectively). Each one of these sections includes specific subsections dealing with applications in a nanofiber or nanomembrane form. Finally, miscellaneous systems and concluding remarks are given in the two last sections. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconducting Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices)

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