Sensitive near-infrared circularly polarized light detection via non-fullerene acceptor blends

Li Wan, Rui Zhang, Eunkyung Cho, Hongxiang Li, Veaceslav Coropceanu, Jean Luc Brédas, Feng Gao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Circularly polarized light (CPL) is widely used for various applications in sensing and imaging1–3. An ongoing challenge is to realize high-quality CPL detection using chiral organic semiconductors, especially in the near-infrared (NIR) region4. Chiral molecules tend to rely on twisted stereogenic moieties; however, conventional approaches to reduce the bandgap of organic semiconductors are based on the use of co-planar backbones that commonly lead to molecular symmetries preventing chirality. Here we report a widely applicable strategy to directly induce chiroptical activity in planar non-fullerene acceptors5–7, which are widely used for high-performance organic photovoltaics and provide a wealth of opportunities to fill the spectral gap of CPL detection in the NIR regime. We demonstrate proof-of-concept circularly polarized organic photodiodes using chiroptically active non-fullerene acceptor blends, which exhibit strong circular dichroism and hence great sensitivity to CPL in the NIR region. Importantly, this strategy is found to be effective in a wide series of state-of-the-art non-fullerene acceptor families including ITIC5, o-IDTBR6 and Y6 analogues7, which substantially broadens the range of materials applicable to NIR CPL detection.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)649-655
Number of pages7
JournalNature Photonics
Volume17
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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