Organic photodetectors with electrically bistable electron acceptors and nanotubes

Abstract

The authors provide two routes to increase the photocurrent of organic photodetectors that are based on electron-donor and electron-acceptor materials. During device fabrication, they introduce carbon nanotubes, which act as channels for electron transport. The channels in effect provide an approach to address the problem of low carrier mobility in the conjugated organics. The authors also make use of the (electrically) bistable nature of the acceptor material, namely, rose bengal in a favorable way. During device characterization, they switch its conductivity to decrease device resistance and yield higher photocurrent. Both the routes enhance photocurrent in these donor-acceptor-type photodetectors.