Design and Synthesis of Red-Absorbing Fluoran Leuco Dyes Supported by Computational Screening.

We report here on the design and synthesis of red-absorbing fluoran leuco dyes (LD). An essential part of the present dye development process is a computational screening of the candidate molecules, which allows for both time-efficient and accurate in silico characterization of the dyes. We focus our study here on the robust benzo[a]fluoran scaffold frequently used in leuco dyes.

Built-In Potentials Induced by Molecular Order in Amorphous Organic Thin Films.

Many molecules used to fabricate organic semiconductor devices carry an intrinsic dipole moment. Anisotropic orientation of such molecules in amorphous organic thin films during the deposition process can lead to the spontaneous buildup of an electrostatic potential perpendicular to the film. This so-called giant surface potential (GSP) effect can be exploited in organic electronics applications and was extensively studied in experiment.

Ultrarobust Thin-Film Devices from Self-Assembled Metal-Terpyridine Oligomers.

Ultrathin molecular layers of Fe(II) -terpyridine oligomers allow the fabrication of large-area crossbar junctions by conventional electrode vapor deposition. The junctions are electrically stable for over 2.5 years and operate over a wide range of temperatures (150-360 K) and voltages (±3 V) due to the high cohesive energy and packing density of the oligomer layer.

Organic dipole layers for ultralow work function electrodes.

The alignment of the electrode Fermi level with the valence or conduction bands of organic semiconductors is a key parameter controlling the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and printed circuits. Here, we introduce a class of organic molecules that form highly robust dipole layers, capable of shifting the work function of noble metals (Au and Ag) down to 3.1 eV, that is, ∼1 eV lower than previously reported self-assembled monolayers.