Abstract
Single-crystal semiconductors have been at the forefront of scientific interest for more than 70 years, serving as the backbone of electronic devices. Inorganic single crystals are typically grown from a melt using time-consuming and energy-intensive processes. Organic semiconductor single crystals, however, can be grown using solution-based methods at room temperature in air, opening up the possibility of large-scale production of inexpensive electronics targeting applications ranging from field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes to medical X-ray detectors. Here we demonstrate a low-cost, scalable spray-printing process to fabricate high-quality organic single crystals, based on various semiconducting small molecules on virtually any substrate by combining the advantages of antisolvent crystallization and solution shearing. The crystals’ size, shape and orientation are controlled by the sheer force generated by the spray droplets’ impact onto the antisolvent’s surface. This method demonstrates the feasibility of a spray-on single-crystal organic electronics.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-22-2016
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13531
Funding Information
G.-P.R. and F.A.C. acknowledge funding from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. M.S. acknowledges equipment support from EPSRC grant EP/I017569/1. J.E.A. and M.M.P. thank the U.S. National Science Foundation (CMMI-1255494) for support of organic semiconductor synthesis.
Related Content
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.
Repository Citation
Rigas, Grigorios-Panagiotis; Payne, Marcia M.; Anthony, John E.; Horton, Peter N.; Castro, Fernando A.; and Shkunov, Maxim, "Spray Printing of Organic Semiconducting Single Crystals" (2016). Chemistry Faculty Publications. 82.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/chemistry_facpub/82
Supplementary Information: Supplementary Figures 1-14, Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Notes 1-6 and Supplementary References
ncomms13531-s2.pdf (244 kB)
Supplementary Information: Peer Review File
Included in
Chemistry Commons, Engineering Science and Materials Commons, Polymer and Organic Materials Commons, Semiconductor and Optical Materials Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Nature Communications, v. 7, article no. 13531, p. 1-8.
© The Author(s) 2016
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