2018 Organic Electronics Summer School

Thank you to our six lecturers and over 50 attendees for making the 2018 Organic Electronics Summer School a success! For links to the lectures, please email requests to ixm98@case.edu.

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When: June 6 – June 7, 2018

Where:

Day 1: Kent State University, 10:00 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Day 1

Day 2: Case Western Reserve University, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Day2-2

What: This 2-day series tackled the interdisciplinary nature of optoelectronic materials and devices by bringing together chemists, physicists and engineers for a high intensity, specialized course for students working with organic electronics. A critical portion of this exciting topic is learning the language of other disciplines. Seven lectures from faculty and staff from CWRU, Kent State University, the University at Buffalo, and the University of Pittsburgh will cover a breadth of information, from the fundamental (Charge Transport in Organic Electronics) to the applied (Devices & Characterization: Organic Photovoltaics). Each day concludes with networking opportunities and tours of the facilities.

Speakers and Abstracts:

Prof. Emily Pentzer*, CWRU

Prof. Bjorn Lussem*, Kent State University

Dr. Ina Martin*, CWRU

This lecture will present a high-level overview of the importance of interfacial layers in organic electronic devices. The tuning of the chemistry of small molecules allows control of the devices as follows: (1) The anchoring groups: these affect interlayer stability; materials can be tuned to result in covalent vs ionic bonding, and/or coordination, vs. van der Waals interactions; (2) Functional groups: these determine the surface energy of the material, and the morphology of the next layer, and (3) the overall dipole: this will affect charge transfer, and in the case of metal oxides, modify the work function. Characterization methods of thin films will also be presented.

Prof. Genevieve Sauve, CWRU

Prof. Geoffrey Hutchison, University of Pittsburgh

Prof. Olga Wodo, University at Buffalo

Organic solar cells (OSC) fabricated from polymers or small molecules represent a promising low cost, low weight, flexible alternative for harnessing solar energy. However, before they can compete with other solar technologies, a few challenges have to be addressed. Key challenges include low efficiency and short life time. There are several approaches to address these challenges that have resulted in varying degrees of success. One promising approach to improving efficiency is through better morphology control during fabrication of the devices. Understanding and tailoring morphology is crucial because the photovoltaic process occurs in a sequence of stages (exciton generation, exciton diffusion, charge separation, charge transport, and charge collection), with each stage critically affected by the morphology. Therefore, there is a critical need to establish quantitative process-structure-property link that is the main focus of this lecture.

In the first part of the lecture, I will explain modeling efforts to study the evolution morphology during solvent-based manufacturing. I will detail how to resolve nano-morphological features while simulating device-scale domains, thus providing unprecedented insights into morphology evolution from the phase initiation to the final formation – far beyond the capability of currently available experimental methods. In the second part of the lecture, I will explain structural feature extraction from microstructural images to enable building quantitative structure-property relationships for OSC. I will talk about several length scales: from device level, through meso scale down to atomistic and electronic levels.

 

*Organizers

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