CPOS Seminar: "High-Performance ‘Green-Solvent’ Casting Organic Electronics"

Speaker: ZHIFANG DU, Graduate Student Researcher, Chemistry and Biochemistry Deparment, UCSB

Abstract: Organic semiconductors have been widely applied to organic solar cells (OSCs), organic photodetectors (OPDs), and wearable electronics in the last decades for their lightweight, flexibility, and great industry potential for high throughput solution processing and roll-to-roll printing technologies. However, traditional solvents used for these organic photovoltaics processing conditions are commonly highly toxic halogenated organic solvents like chlorobenzene (CB), o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB), and chloroform (CF) which are not only harmful to human health upon exposure but can also cause long-term effects on the ecosystem. Consequently, research on halogen-free/ “green solvent” (such as xylene, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), methanol, water, etc.) processable organic semiconductors are essential to moving organic photovoltaics from bench chemistry towards real-life applications. In this presentation, I will describe the design, fabrication, optimization as well as characterization of green-solvent processing organic semiconductors, including a self-powered OPD system process from 2-MeTHF as a wearable device for real-time pulse rate and oximetry measurements, and the state-of-the-art 2-MeTHF casting OSC achieving a record PCE.