Electronic Properties of Organic-Based Interfaces
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Leeor Kronik and Norbert Koch, Guest Editors Abstract Organic-based interfaces can possess a range of surprising electronic properties that are of intense interest from both the basic science and the applied research points of view. In this issue of MRS Bulletin, we provide state-of-the-art overviews of selected topics involving three complementary aspects of the electronic properties of organicbased interfaces: the nascent electronics technologies that would gain from improved understanding and control of such interfaces; the novel properties that organic-based interfaces may possess; and the experimental and theoretical challenges afforded by such studies.
Introduction The theme for this issue of MRS Bulletin is the electronic and optical properties of interfaces involving organic materials (typically comprised of polymers or of molecular solids based on relatively small conjugated molecules). We have selected this theme because we believe that it is a fine example of the challenges and opportunities materials science has to offer, namely bridging physics and chemistry, as well as basic science and applied research, through interaction and interplay between theory and experiment.
Technological Importance A specific, but highly important, case of organic-based interfaces is that of interfaces between organic matter and a metal. Such interfaces have already received much attention. From a technological standpoint, understanding, controlling, and ultimately rationally designing the desired electronic and optical properties of an organic/metal interface is of tremendous importance for several emerging and nascent technologies. The most obvious example is that of organic electronics, where electronic and opto-electronic devices (e.g., transistors and lightemitting diodes) rely on conjugated organic materials with semiconducting properties, rather than on traditional inorganic semiconductors.1 The advantages offered by this emerging class of (opto-)
electronic devices include cost-efficient large-area fabrication, such as direct printing methods and roll-to-roll processing, an enormous wealth of materials design through chemical synthesis, and mechanical flexibility. Here, the nature of the contact to electrodes, made of metals or transparent conductive oxides, connecting the device to circuitry is crucial to device function and performance.2,3 A special but significant case of organic electronics is organic photovoltaics.4,5 Here, the organic/metal interface may be part of the active electrical energy–generating region, or it may determine carrier collection at the leads. The role that the interface properties play in determining whether organic photovoltaics are to become a viable technology cannot be emphasized enough. Another evident example of the importance of organic/metal interfaces is that of molecular electronics, where current conduction, rectification, information processing, and storage take place within a single molecule.6–8 Here, the connection to electrical leads is part and parcel of the device,9 an
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