Siloles in optoelectronic devices

Abstract

This review covers the electronic properties of silole-based organic semiconductors and the newest developments in the field of silole-based OLEDs and OPVs.

Abstract

Typical optoelectronic devices are transducers used to realize energy conversion between light and electric current. Optoelectronic devices have a wide variety of applications as diverse as e.g. light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic technology, photoconductive cells, laser diodes, photoemissive camera tubes, optocouplers etc. Their versatile utility necessitates a cost-efficient industrial-scale production. The last decade has witnessed a rapid development and great improvement in the efficiency of optoelectronic devices and revealed their evergrowing need in new organic semiconducting materials that are at the heart of such devices. This review article covers the electronic properties of silole-based organic semiconductors including tetraarylsilole, spirosilole, fused silole molecules and polymers, recently applied in OLEDs and OPVs, and their optoelectronic device performances. And an outlook on the future investigations of silole-based materials is offered.