Electrical and Related Properties of Organic Solids and Polymers

by Jean-Michel Nunzi

doi:10.1515/ci.2005.27.6.31

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Electrical and Related Properties of Organic Solids and Polymers

by Jean-Michel Nunzi

Published/Copyright: September 1, 2009

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From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 27 Issue 6

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Electrical and Related Properties of Organic Solids and Polymers

by Jean-Michel Nunzi

The fast development of organic electronic and optoelectronic devices bearing advanced properties prefigures new research and development opportunities in materials and polymers chemistry for the third millennium. Almost every week, we can read in the journals Science and Nature about the new discoveries in the fields of organic and polymer chemistry applied to electronics and optoelectronics.

In order to transform this insightful research into a new worldwide industrial market-which makes advanced low-cost plastic electronics available to almost everyone-a conference was organized to bring leading chemistry and physics scientists together with young researchers. Advanced renewable energy, communication, and sensing and security systems are expected to emerge in the next decade from this new opportunity in chemistry. These were the main topics of the ERPOS conference held 10–15 July 2005 in Cargese, France.

About 100 participants attended the conference, with 22 invited presentations, 64 talks, and about 50 posters. The different topics were organized in seven sessions: optical storage materials; green functional materials for electronics; polymers for broad-band information technologies; nano-bio-photonics; multi-functional materials for advanced electronics: principles and applications; and optically switchable materials.

A special session on optical storage materials began with an invited talk by H.J. Eichler (Berlin) on “Microholographic Data Storage.” Eichler described a bit-storage process that enables an increase in DVD capacity by two orders of magnitude by using the depth of 100 µm thick holographic polymers together with wavelength multiplexing. Holographic storage polymers and applications were also addressed in the talks of A. Miniewicz (Wroclaw), S. Kucharski (Wroclaw) and D. Bogdal (Krakow).

The subject of green functional materials for electronics was introduced by J. Grote (US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), USA), who spoke about DNA-based photonic materials. Grote pointed out that DNA is an abundant natural product with versatile properties: it has transparent photonic waveguides, it is a molecular conductor, and it is a nanosystem templating material. Other important talks were given by G. Aldea (Angers) on a new high-loading totally water-soluble C₆₀-pendant copolymer for electronic devices and layer-by-layer electrostatic self-assembly, and by B.C. Simionescu (Iasi) on functional micro- and nanoparticles fabrication.

A special session sponsored by Keio-COE was held on polymers for broad-band information technologies. Y. Koike (Keio) delivered the plenary lecture on graded-index polymer optical fibers (GI POF) and their applications in telecommunications. GIPOF have less than 10bB/Km losses in the 0.8–1.3µm band and a transmission band in excess of 10Gb/s for 100m cables.

ERPOS ’10 participants.

The topic of nano-bio-photonics was addressed by several invited talks from world leaders, giving broad coverage of the domain. Among the many talks were those of N. Peyghambarian (University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA) on photorefractive polymers and applications, K.D. Singer (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) on non-dispersive high-mobility discotic liquid crystals for electronics, and A. Djurisic (HongKong) on new organic and inorganic nanoparticles and structures for electronic and laser applications.

Multi-functional materials for advanced electronics were introduced by the plenary talk of S. Saricifci (Linz) on plastic solar cells. Interpenetrated polymer nano-solar cells should soon permit solar yields to surpass 5 percent. Owing to their good performance to price ratio, they should soon become credible renewable energy devices and an economic alternative to silicon cells.

The diversity of organic devices for electronics is an open field for new theories and characterization. Leading experts presented their studies of device modelization at all scales: from the individual molecules which are the building blocks of semiconductors (N. Kirova, Orsay); through charge transport in disordered organic semiconductors (H. Baessler, Marburg); the effect of disorder at interfaces on charge injection in electronic devices (S. Novikov, Moscow); to the energy levels and traps in organic transistors (S. Schrader, Wildau) and bimolecular recombination in plastic solar cells (K. Arlauskas, Vilnius).

Optically switchable materials were introduced by H. Cailleau (Rennes), with time resolved X-ray studies of photoinduced phase transitions in charge transfer organic crystals. Two-photon absorption materials with applications to optical limiting, nanofabrication, microscopy, and phototherapy were introduced by K.S. Lee (Busan), a world-leader in this area.

The proceedings of ERPOS’10 will be published as peer-reviewed papers in a special issue of Nonlinear Optics and Quantum Optics (Old City Publishing). The next edition of ERPOS will be organized in Poland by A. Miniewicz in 2008.

Jean-Michel Nunzi <jean-michel.nunzi@univ-angers.fr> is a professor at POMA, the Laboratoire des Propriétés Optiques des Matériaux et Applications, at the Université d'Angers, in Angers, France. He was chair of the 2005 ERPOS conference.

http://sciences.univ-angers.fr/erpos/

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Published Online: 2009-09-01

Published in Print: 2005-11

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2005.27.6.31