Supramolecular engineering of charge transfer in wide bandgap organic semiconductors with enhanced visible-to-NIR photoresponse.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34135338.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-23914-2 and PMC identifier 8209149.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Organic photodetectors displaying efficient photoelectric response in the near-infrared are typically based on narrow bandgap active materials. Unfortunately, the latter require complex molecular design to ensure sufficient light absorption in the near-infrared region. Here, we show a method combining an unconventional device architecture and ad-hoc supramolecular self-assembly to trigger the emergence of opto-electronic properties yielding to remarkably high near-infrared response using a wide bandgap material as active component. Our optimized vertical phototransistors comprising a network of supramolecular nanowires of N,N'-dioctyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide sandwiched between a monolayer graphene bottom-contact and Au nanomesh scaffold top-electrode exhibit ultrasensitive light response to monochromatic light from visible to near-infrared range, with photoresponsivity of 2 × 10<sup>5</sup> A/W and 1 × 10<sup>2</sup> A/W, at 570 nm and 940 nm, respectively, hence outperforming devices based on narrow bandgap materials. Moreover, these devices also operate as highly sensitive photoplethysmography tool for health monitoring.