Covalent Organic Framework Thin-Film Photodetectors from Solution-Processable Porous Nanospheres

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Saikat Bag - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Himadri Sekhar Sasmal - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Sonu Pratap Chaudhary - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Kaushik Dey - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Dominic Blätte - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Roman Guntermann - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Yingying Zhang - , TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Miroslav Položij - , Chair of Theoretical Chemistry (Author)
  • Agnieszka Kuc - , Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Author)
  • Ankita Shelke - , CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (Author)
  • Ratheesh K. Vijayaraghavan - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Thalasseril G. Ajithkumar - , CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (Author)
  • Sayan Bhattacharyya - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)
  • Thomas Heine - , Chair of Theoretical Chemistry, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Author)
  • Thomas Bein - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Rahul Banerjee - , Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata (Author)

Abstract

The synthesis of homogeneous covalent organic framework (COF) thin films on a desired substrate with decent crystallinity, porosity, and uniform thickness has great potential for optoelectronic applications. We have used a solution-processable sphere transmutation process to synthesize 300 ± 20 nm uniform COF thin films on a 2 × 2 cm2 TiO2-coated fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) surface. This process controls the nucleation of COF crystallites and molecular morphology that helps the nanospheres to arrange periodically to form homogeneous COF thin films. We have synthesized four COF thin films (TpDPP, TpEtBt, TpTab, and TpTta) with different functional backbones. In a close agreement between the experiment and density functional theory, the TpEtBr COF film showed the lowest optical band gap (2.26 eV) and highest excited-state lifetime (8.52 ns) among all four COF films. Hence, the TpEtBr COF film can participate in efficient charge generation and separation. We constructed optoelectronic devices having a glass/FTO/TiO2/COF-film/Au architecture, which serves as a model system to study the optoelectronic charge transport properties of COF thin films under dark and illuminated conditions. Visible light with a calibrated intensity of 100 mW cm-2 was used for the excitation of COF thin films. All of the COF thin films exhibit significant photocurrent after illumination with visible light in comparison to the dark. Hence, all of the COF films behave as good photoactive substrates with minimal pinhole defects. The fabricated out-of-plane photodetector device based on the TpEtBr COF thin film exhibits high photocurrent density (2.65 ± 0.24 mA cm-2 at 0.5 V) and hole mobility (8.15 ± 0.64 ×10-3 cm2 V-1 S-1) compared to other as-synthesized films, indicating the best photoactive characteristics.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1649-1659
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume145
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jan 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 36622362
WOS 000917723000001
unpaywall 10.1021/jacs.2c09838

Keywords

Keywords

  • H-2 evolution, Crystalline, Capacitance, Transport