Search

The synthesis of crystalline 2D polymers typically relies on reversible dynamic covalent reactions, but achieving 2D polymers through irreversible carbon-carbon coupling reactions remains a formidable challenge. Here, the authors present an on-liquid surface synthesis method for constructing diyne-linked 2D polymers.

Conventional capacitors store charge under opposite polarization. Here, the authors design a printed asymmetric system, where a redox-active electrolyte enables selective charge storage. This approach allows voltage control and efficient logic operations, showing promise for future ionic computing.

Flexible organic electronics could eventually be used to create electronic skin. Films of a pressure-sensitive microstructured elastomer are now used as the dielectric layer in organic field-effect transistors to create highly sensitive devices. The elastomer is also used in a matrix pressure sensor that can detect loads in numerous positions.

Hot carrier transport in organic systems has remained elusive due to rapid energy relaxation and limited transport properties. Here highly mobile hot carriers and their relaxation dynamics are reported in a crystalline two-dimensional conjugated coordination polymer, revealing two distinct transport regimes.

Controlling site-selectivity and reactivity in chemical reactions continues to be a key challenge in modern synthetic chemistry. Here, the authors demonstrate the assembly of amino-substituted porphyrins on a water surface into J-aggregate structures in the presence of charged surfactants.

A multilayer-stacked two-dimensional polyaniline crystal shows high electrical conductivity and unique out-of-plane metallic transport behaviour, indicating potential for strong electronic coupling beyond in-plane interactions and three-dimensional metallic conductivity.

Progress in organic electronics depends on our understanding of the structure–property relationships of organic materials. Resonant scattering of polarized soft X-rays by aromatic carbon bonds has now been used to probe molecular orientation in thin organic semiconductor films down to length scales of 20 nm.

Heterogeneous reactions associated with porous films are vital in nature and industry. A hierarchical-structure-accelerated interfacial dynamic strategy is reported to improve interfacial gas transfer on conductive metal-organic framework films.

The water surface has recently proven to be an effective platform for the synthesis of large-area two-dimensional polymers with high crystallinity. Here, the authors report the on-water synthesis of a crystalline monolayer 2D polyimide, as well as its incorporation into organic–inorganic hybrid van der Waals heterostructures that display significant charge transfer and high electron mobility.

A method is reported that produces highly strong, tough and elastic 2D COF films, using a sacrificial go-between, which endows them with new properties, enhances their current applications and paves the way for new applications.

The controlled growth of thin films of conjugated metal–organic frameworks is reported using an on-liquid-gallium surface synthesis strategy under chemical vapour deposition conditions. The surface flatness of the thin films is a tenfold improvement compared with samples synthesized by traditional routes.

Though single-material organic solar cells are attractive for next-generation photovoltaic technologies, designing new materials with ideal properties remains a challenge. Here, the authors report the use of orientation-dependent molecular electrostatics to realise efficient homojunction devices.

Changes in dielectric constant due to intimate mixing of thiophene molecules with different gaps between ionization energy and electron affinity induce gap variations at the single-particle level, finely tunable by controlling the mixture ratio.

It has been commonly believed that the driving force at the donor-acceptor heterojunction is vital to efficient charge separation in organic solar cells. Here Zhong et al. show that the driving force can be as small as 0.05 eV without compromising the charge transfer rate and efficiency.

One of the advantages of organic over inorganic semiconductors is they can be grown from solution, but their electrical mobility is often poor. Yuan et al. report a technique for fabricating organic transistors with mobilities far beyond that of amorphous silicon and close to that of polycrystalline silicon.

Solution-shearing process has been recently developed as a large-area coating method of producing crystallographic organic thin films, but how this process works is still unknown. Giri et al.monitor it in real time and find the degree of polymorphism can be tailored by varying solution conditions.

Two-dimensional (2D) membranes are emerging candidates for osmotic energy conversion but the trade-off between ion selectivity and conductivity remains the key bottleneck. Here, the authors demonstrate a fully crystalline imine-based 2D polymer membrane capable of combining excellent ionic conductivity and high selectivity for osmotic energy conversion.

An organic bipolar junction transistor composed of highly crystalline rubrene thin films has a device architecture that could be used in organic electronics with greatly improved high-frequency performance

Large area and homogeneous PANI thin films are important in high-performance organic electronics, but controlling the thickness and crystallinity in PANI thin films is challenging. Here the authors use air-water interface and surfactant monolayer templates to synthesize large area crystalline PANI films with tunable thickness.

Endowing metal–organic frameworks with both high electrical conductivity and magnetic ordering could make such materials useful for spintronics. Here the authors design a layer-stacking coronene-based 2D MOF that exhibits a semiconducting feature with an electrical conductivity of ~10 S cm⁻¹ at 300 K, as well as ferromagnetism below ~20 K.

Semiconducting metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) can be of interest for optoelectronics, but charge transport property is rarely elucidated. Here, a π–d conjugated 2D MOF shows band-like charge transport, with room-temperature mobility of 220 cm² V^–1 s^–1.

It is difficult to prepare 2D polymers that are crystalline over large areas. Now, few-layer 2D polyimides and polyamides with good crystallinity on the micrometre scale have been synthesized on a water surface. A surfactant monolayer is used to organize amine monomers before their polymerization with anhydride moieties.

The development of new organic semiconductors with high mobility and air stability will facilitate their widespread application. In this Article,in silicoscreening of extended oligothiophenes leads to the synthesis of a high performance semiconductor.

Solution printing is a desirable route for manufacturing organic solar cells, whilst the major challenge lies with morphology control. Here, Diao et al.use a microstructured blade to guide the solution flow during printing, which improves polymer crystallization and the resulting device performance.

Solution printing of organic semiconductors could in principle be scaled to industrial needs, yet attaining aligned single-crystals directly with this method has been challenging. By using a micropillar-patterned printing blade designed to enhance the control of crystal nucleation and growth, thin films of macroscopic, highly aligned single crystals of organic semiconductors can now be fabricated.

Organic thin-film transistors can be photomodulated by incorporating photochromic molecules, but the state-of-the-art suffers from poor charge transport. Here, the authors improve charge mobility by three orders of magnitude by blending small conjugated molecules into diarylethene.

A solution-processing method known as solution shearing is used to introduce lattice strain to organic semiconductors, thus improving charge carrier mobility.