Organic Electronics

ChromaTwist materials display Hexagonal Columnar Discotic Liquid Crystal (DLC) mesophases – a state of matter intermediate between liquid and solid. This mesophase gives rise to an anisotropy in photophysical properties such as light polarisation, light emission and charge transport. In addition, ChromaTwist materials are able to form nanoparticles and nanowires.

Schematic representation of discotic molecule arrangement in DLCs mesophase

Triphenoxazoles are organic insulators with charge mobility around ~ 10-3 cm2/Vs. When irradiated with UV light, ChromaTwist materials become photoconductors. The photocurrent display up to 2 orders of magnitude increase compared to the hexakis(alkyloxy)triphenylenes (TpH), which is the archetypical photoconductor.

Photocurrent ON and OFF switching with 350 nm UV light of TpH, TpOx-Ph and TpOx-2-Nap

Organo-electronic properties of DLCs have been utilised in applications such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) [1, 2], organic solar cells [3, 4] and other organic electronic applications. [5-9] Currently, ChromaTwist is examining further triphenoxazoles for use in OPV application as photoactive and charge transport material.

Please contact us for more information about ChromaTwist technology for organic electronic applications.

 

 

  1. Pfeiffer, M., et al., Doped organic semiconductors: Physics and application in light emitting diodes. Organic Electronics, 2003. 4(2-3): p. 89-103.
  2. De, J., et al., Room-Temperature Columnar Liquid Crystals as Efficient Pure Deep-Blue Emitters in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with an External Quantum Efficiency of 4.0%. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2019. 11(8): p. 8291-8300.
  3. Schmidt-Mende, L., et al., Self-organized discotic liquid crystals for high-efficiency organic photovoltaics. Science, 2001. 293(5532): p. 1119-1122.
  4. Kumar, M. and S. Kumar, Liquid crystals in photovoltaics: a new generation of organic photovoltaics. Polymer Journal, 2017. 49(1): p. 85-111.
  5. Kaafarani, B.R., Discotic Liquid Crystals for Opto-Electronic Applications. Chemistry of Materials, 2011. 23(3): p. 378-396.
  6. Funahashi, M., Development of Liquid-Crystalline Semiconductors with High Carrier Mobilities and Their Application to Thin-film Transistors. Polymer Journal, 2009. 41(6): p. 459-469.
  7. Kumar, M., A. Gowda, and S. Kumar, Discotic Liquid Crystals with Graphene: Supramolecular Self-assembly to Applications. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 2017. 34(9): p. 1700003-n/a.
  8. Setia, S., et al., Applications of liquid crystals in biosensing and organic light-emitting devices: future aspects. Liquid Crystals, 2016. 43(13-15): p. 2009-2050.
  9. Yamashita, Y., Organic semiconductors for organic field-effect transistors. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2009. 10(2): p. 024313.