I-Corps: Robust Organic Semiconductors for Optoelectronic Applications

目前最先进的有机半导体材料存在着性能低(导电性低)、寿命短、制造成本高等问题。研究人员最近开发了一种一步法，将传统的有机半导体转化为新材料，具有出色的电子亲和力、高度受欢迎的固态分子堆积、优异的稳定性(在光和空气下)和可加工性(通过溶液和低温真空沉积)。这些有价值的特性的结合特别适合于各种有机电子设备(OLED、OPV)。在这个项目中，研究团队计划展示新材料在器件中的高性能，并产生关于新材料和基本器件功能的重要新知识。这种合成方法的多功能性使研究人员能够制备许多由富含地球的元素组成的新的、相对便宜的、可广泛调节的材料。这些新材料的可预测特性将使研究人员与各种有机电子器件的开发者合作，从目前的试错方法过渡到高性能廉价有机电子的智能设计。新型先进材料库的高性能、稳定性和广泛适用性的展示，可能对有机电子行业和学术研究领域产生强大的影响。这些新材料解决了目前最先进的有机半导体的主要问题：低性能、短寿命和高成本。这种可广泛调节的材料库有可能为工业提供突破性的能力，以提高有机电子设备的寿命和效率，并降低成本。此外，在该项目期间评估的材料将使新兴的有机电子行业能够更快、更高效地设计出更高效、更持久、更便宜的设备，从而加速在全球范围内用设计合理、微调和可回收的有机分子组件取代基于硅和金属的电子元件。这项技术有可能改善电子行业，带来可持续、持久和环保的柔性设备的新模型，这些设备可以使用添加剂制造方法以低廉的成本制造。

Current state-of-the-art organic semiconductor materials are plagued by low performance (low electrical conductivity), short life-time, and high manufacturing costs. Researchers recently developed a one-step process that converts legacy organic semiconductors into new materials with outstanding electron affinity, highly sought-after solid-state molecular packing, excellent stability (under light and air) and processability (by solution and low-temperature vacuum deposition). The combination of these valuable properties is uniquely suited for a variety of organic electronic devices (OLEDs, OPVs). During this project the research team plans to demonstrate the high performance of the new materials in devices and generate important new knowledge concerning new materials and fundamental device function. The versatility of this synthetic method allows researchers to prepare many new, relatively inexpensive, and broadly tunable materials composed of earth-abundant elements. The predictable properties of these new materials will enable researchers, in collaboration with developers of various organic electronic devices, to transition from the current trial-and-error approach to intelligent design of high-performing inexpensive organic electronics.The demonstration of the high performance, stability, and broad applicability of the new library of advanced materials may have a strong impact on the organic electronics industry and academic research field. The new materials address the major problems of current "state-of-the-art" organic semiconductors: low performance, short lifetime, and high cost. This library of broadly tunable materials has the potential to provide industry with a breakthrough capability to improve the lifetime and efficiency and lower the cost of organic electronic devices. Furthermore, the materials evaluated during this project will enable the emergent organic electronics industry to engineer more efficient, longer-lasting, and cheaper devices faster and more efficiently, leading to an accelerated global replacement of silicon- and metal-based electronic components with rationally-designed, finely-tuned, and recyclable organic molecular assemblies. This technology has the potential to improve the electronics industry bringing about new models of sustainable, long-lasting, and eco-friendly flexible devices that can be manufactured inexpensively using additive manufacturing methods.