Improvements in Thin Film Production

This technology is a new composition of matter, namely a new class of nanocomposite materials comprising carbon nanotubes dispersed in one, or more, molecular organic semiconductor(s), for application in organic electronic devices.

Key Benefits:

Composites of carbon nanotubes and organic semiconductors have enormous potential as functional materials in organic electronic devices. These materials are expected to offer:

i)                     Improved thermal management in organic electronic devices, particularly solar cells, extending device lifetime.

ii)                   Enhanced device efficiencies due to efficient charge transport and charge carrier injection/extraction.

iii)                  Versatility due to tuneability of electronic structure, maximizing potential applications.

iv)                  Compatibility with flexible substrates and existing solution processing low cost technologies.

The novelty in this invention is the use of molecular organic semiconductors in carbon nanotubes/organic semiconductor composites. This class of organic semiconductor has a number of key advantages over polymeric organic semiconductors

(which most research in the area has focused on):

i)                     Molecular semiconductors are easily processed to form thin films with a high degree of molecular order. Molecular order enhances device efficiency and lifetime

ii)                   Molecular semiconductors are typically more chemically and thermally stable than semiconducting polymers, extending device lifetime

iii)                  Most polymeric semiconductors have an optical band gap of 2-3 eV. In solar cell applications this limits device efficiency because a large part of the solar spectrum is not harvested. Readily available molecular semiconductors have a greater range of band gaps, which can be tuned using appropriate functionality.