Center of Single-Molecule Sciences, Institute of Modern Optics, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Nankai University, 38 Tongyan Road, Jinnan District, Tianjin, 300350, P. R. China.
School of Physics, Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P. R. China.
Adv Mater. 2023 Jul;35(28):e2301876. doi: 10.1002/adma.202301876. Epub 2023 May 30.
The electronic characteristics of organic optoelectronic materials determine the performance of corresponding devices. Clarifying the relationship between molecular structure and electronic characteristics at the single-molecule level can help to achieve high performance for organic optoelectronic materials and devices, especially for organic photovoltaics. In this work, a typical acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type molecule is explored by combining theoretical and experimental studies to reveal the intrinsic electronic characteristics at the single-molecule level. Specifically, the A-D-A-type molecule with 1,1-dicyano methylene-3-indanone (INCN) acceptor units exhibits an enhanced conductance in single-molecule junctions when compared with the control donor molecule, because the acceptor units of the A-D-A-type molecule contribute additional transport channels. In addition, through opening the S∙∙∙O noncovalent conformational lock by protonation to expose the -S anchoring sites, the charge transport of the D central part is detected, proving that the conductive orbitals contributed by the INCN acceptor groups can penetrate the whole A-D-A molecule. These results provide important insights into the development of high-performance organic optoelectronic materials and devices toward practical applications.
有机光电材料的电子特性决定了相应器件的性能。阐明单分子水平上的分子结构与电子特性之间的关系有助于实现有机光电材料和器件的高性能，特别是对于有机光伏器件。在这项工作中，通过结合理论和实验研究，探索了一种典型的给体-受体-给体（A-D-A）型分子，以揭示其单分子水平上的固有电子特性。具体来说，与对照给体分子相比，具有 1,1-二氰基亚甲基-3-茚满酮（INCN）受体单元的 A-D-A 型分子在单分子结中表现出增强的电导，因为 A-D-A 型分子的受体单元贡献了额外的输运通道。此外，通过质子化打开 S∙∙∙O 非共价构象锁以暴露 -S 锚固点，检测到 D 中心部分的电荷输运，证明 INCN 受体基团贡献的传导轨道可以穿透整个 A-D-A 分子。这些结果为开发高性能有机光电材料和器件以实现实际应用提供了重要的见解。
