Boseok Kang

Recent Advances in Organic Transistor Printing Processes

Recent progress in organic field-effect transistor (OFET) printing processes is reviewed, and a perspective on the future of the field is discussed. The principles underlying the OFET printing techniques are introduced according to two categories: direct write printing and transfer printing. A comprehensive overview of the use of printing techniques in OFET production processes is also provided. Considerations for improving OFET device performance using printing processes are explored. Prior to OFET commercialization, the OFET printing techniques must satisfy several requirements, as discussed here.

Enhancing 2D growth of organic semiconductor thin films with macroporous structures via a small-molecule heterointerface

The physical structure of an organic solid is strongly affected by the surface of the underlying substrate. Controlling this interface is an important issue to improve device performance in the organic electronics community. Here we report an approach that utilizes an organic heterointerface to improve the crystallinity and control the morphology of an organic thin film. Pentacene is used as an active layer above, and m-bis(triphenylsilyl)benzene is used as the bottom layer. Sequential evaporations of these materials result in extraordinary morphology with far fewer grain boundaries and myriad nanometre-sized pores. These peculiar structures are formed by difference in molecular interactions between the organic layers and the substrate surface. The pentacene film exhibits high mobility up to 6.3 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), and the pore-rich structure improves the sensitivity of organic-transistor-based chemical sensors. Our approach opens a new way for the fabrication of nanostructured semiconducting layers towards high-performance organic electronics.

Work-Function-Tuned Reduced Graphene Oxide via Direct Surface Functionalization as Source/Drain Electrodes in Bottom-Contact Organic Transistors

RGO electrodes with work functions that can be widely tuned using direct surface functionalization are demonstrated by self-assembled monolayers anchored onto the surfaces of the RGO electrodes, which can remarkably enhance the device performance of organic field-effect transistors.

A Pseudo‐Regular Alternating Conjugated Copolymer Using an Asymmetric Monomer: A High‐Mobility Organic Transistor in Nonchlorinated Solvents

Pseudo-regular alternating PDPP-TVS copolymers using an asymmetric monomer (thiophene-vinylene-selenophene (TVS)) are synthesized. Unlike regular alternating copolymers, these polymers are highly soluble in nonchlorinated solvents such as tetra-hydrofuran, toluene, xylene, and tetralin. The organic field-effect transistor devices fabricated using these polymers dissolved in nonchlorinated solvents exhibit a high hole mobility up to 8.2 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1).

A bis(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-benzodifuran-dione containing copolymer for high-mobility ambipolar transistors

A bis(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-benzodifuran-dione (BIBDF)-based low band gap polymer (PBIBDF-BT), containing a solubilizing alkyl chain bithiophene unit as a donor, has been synthesized. The polymer with a low-lying LUMO/HOMO energy level (-4.03/-5.55 eV) exhibits efficient ambipolar charge transport. The electron and hole mobilities are as high as 1.08 and 0.30 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), respectively.

Understanding Solidification of Polythiophene Thin Films during Spin-Coating: Effects of Spin-Coating Time and Processing Additives

Spin-coating has been used extensively in the fabrication of electronic devices; however, the effects of the processing parameters have not been fully explored. Here, we systematically characterize the effects of the spin-coating time on the microstructure evolution during semiconducting polymer solidification in an effort to establish the relationship between this parameter and the performances of the resulting polymer field-effect transistors (FETs). We found that a short spin-coating time of a few seconds dramatically improve the morphology and molecular order in a conjugated polymer thin film because the π-π stacking structures formed by the polymer molecules grow slowly and with a greater degree of order due to the residual solvent present in the wet film. The improved ordering is correlated with improved charge carrier transport in the FETs prepared from these films. We also demonstrated the effects of various processing additives on the resulting FET characteristics as well as on the film drying behavior during spin-coating. The physical properties of the additives are found to affect the film drying process and the resulting device performance.

Substrate-induced solvent intercalation for stable graphene doping.

Here, we report a substrate-induced intercalation phenomenon of an organic solvent at the interface between monolayer graphene and a target substrate. A simple dipping of the transferred chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown graphene on the SiO₂ substrate into chloroform (CHCl₃, CF), a common organic solvent, induces a spontaneous formation of CF clusters beneath the basal plane of the graphene as well as inside the wrinkles. The microscopic and spectroscopic observations showed the doping behavior of monolayer graphene, which indicates the adsorption of CF to monolayer graphene. Interestingly, the intercalated organic solvent showed remarkable stability for over 40 days under ambient conditions. To reveal the underlying mechanism of the stable solvent intercalation, desorption energy of CF molecules at the graphene/substrate interface was measured using Arrhenius plots of the conductance change upon time and temperature. Two stages of solvent intercalations with high desorption energies (70 and 370 meV) were observed along with the consecutive shrinkage of the solvent clusters at the basal plane and the wrinkles, respectively. Moreover, the theoretical calculation based on density functional theory (DFT) also shows the strong intercalation energy of CF between monolayer graphene and the SiO₂ substrate, which results from the stabilization of the graphene-SiO₂ interactions. Furthermore, the thermal response of the conductance could be utilized to maintain a certain degree of p-doping of monolayer graphene, which provides the facile, sustainable, and controllable large-area doping method of graphene for future generation of printed flexible electronics.

Directly Drawn Organic Transistors by Capillary Pen: A New Facile Patterning Method using Capillary Action for Soluble Organic Materials

A capillary pen drawing technique, developed as a new patterning methodology for the large-area patterning and fabrication of organic electronics, provides several advantages over conventional approaches: the method is simple and versatile, there are no restrictions on the patterning shapes that could be produced, and the method can be tailored to a variety of substrates.

Boosting Photon Harvesting in Organic Solar Cells with Highly Oriented Molecular Crystals via Graphene–Organic Heterointerface

Photon harvesting in organic solar cells is highly dependent on the anisotropic nature of the optoelectronic properties of photoactive materials. Here, we demonstrate an efficient approach to dramatically enhance photon harvesting in planar heterojunction solar cells by using a graphene-organic heterointerface. A large area, residue-free monolayer graphene is inserted at anode interface to serve as an atomically thin epitaxial template for growing highly orientated pentacene crystals with lying-down orientation. This anisotropic orientation enhances the overall optoelectronic properties, including light absorption, charge carrier lifetime, interfacial energetics, and especially the exciton diffusion length. Spectroscopic and crystallographic analysis reveal that the lying-down orientation persists until a thickness of 110 nm, which, along with increased exciton diffusion length up to nearly 100 nm, allows the device optimum thickness to be doubled to yield significantly enhanced light absorption within the photoactive layers. The resultant photovoltaic performance shows simultaneous increment in Voc, Jsc, and FF, and consequently a 5 times increment in the maximum power conversion efficiency than the equivalent devices without a graphene layer. The present findings indicate that controlling organic-graphene heterointerface could provide a design strategy of organic solar cell architecture for boosting photon harvesting.

Clean Transfer of Wafer-Scale Graphene via Liquid Phase Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Pentacene (C22H14), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, was used as both supporting and sacrificing layers for the clean and doping-free graphene transfer. After successful transfer of graphene to a target substrate, the pentacene layer was physically removed from the graphene surface by using intercalating organic solvent. This solvent-mediated removal of pentacene from graphene surface was investigated by both theoretical calculation and experimental studies with various solvents. The uses of pentacene and appropriate intercalation solvent enabled graphene transfer without forming a residue from the supporting layer. Such residues tend to cause charged impurity scattering and unintentional graphene doping effects. As a result, this clean graphene exhibited extremely homogeneous surface potential profiles over a large area. A field-effect transistor fabricated using this graphene displayed a high hole (electron) mobility of 8050 cm(2)/V·s (9940 cm(2)/V·s) with a nearly zero Dirac point voltage.