Page 18 - Organic Electronics in Sensors and Biotechnology

Preface

rganic electronics, i.e., the field of (opto)electronic devices uti-
lizing organic active layers, has been growing rapidly over the
Olast two decades. Examples of intensive ongoing research and
development areas include organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs),
organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and organic photovoltaics
(OPVs). The appeal of organic electronics stems from attributes such as
the abundance of synthetic π-conjugated small molecules and poly-
mers, whose photoluminescence and electroluminescence span a
broad spectral range; the ease of fabricating organic thin films by
well-established techniques such as thermal evaporation, spin coat-
ing, and inkjet printing; and the mechanical flexibility and compati-
bility of organics with substrates such as glass and plastic. As a result,
devices are amenable to large-scale fabrication and are expected to be
of low cost.
OLEDs have advanced from short-lived dim devices, with a lifetime
of less than 1 min in air, to red and green OLEDs and blue OLEDs that
can operate continuously, based on accelerated measurements, for
over 200,000 h and 100,000 h, with efficiencies of ~60 and ~20 lm/W,
2
respectively, at a brightness of 100 Cd/m (i.e., slightly less than a
typical TV or computer monitor). In pulsed operation, OLED brightness
7
2
values > 10 Cd/m have been reported. Indeed, OLEDs are already
common in flat-panel displays of, e.g., car stereos, mobile phones,
MP3 players, and small TV screens, and their sales are growing. A
bright-color 11 in. OLED TV was recently commercialized by Sony.
OLEDs are also promising for solid-state lighting applications, and
commercialization of bright white OLED panels by, e.g., Matsushita, is
expected in the near future. Similarly, OFETs are being developed for
applications in flat panel displays and radio-frequency identification
smart tags, and organic and hybrid PV is an intensely growing research
field with currently reported power efficiencies approaching 6%.
The growing activity and progress in organic electronics have led
to emerging R&D in the field of organic electronics-based chemical and
biological sensors as well as in biotechnology. The R&D on (bio)chemical
sensors is constantly growing in due to existing and surfacing needs

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