High-speed flexible near-infrared organic photodiode for optical communication

Yu Zhu; Hongbin Chen; Ruiman Han; Hao Qin; Zhaoyang Yao; Hang Liu; Yanfeng Ma; Xiangjian Wan; Guanghui Li; Yongsheng Chen

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwad311

High-speed flexible near-infrared organic photodiode for optical communication

Natl Sci Rev. 2023 Dec 11;11(3):nwad311. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwad311. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Yu Zhu¹, Hongbin Chen¹, Ruiman Han¹, Hao Qin¹, Zhaoyang Yao¹, Hang Liu¹, Yanfeng Ma¹, Xiangjian Wan¹, Guanghui Li¹, Yongsheng Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Centre of Nanoscale Science and Technology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry, and Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.

Abstract

Optical communication is a particularly compelling technology for tackling the speed and capacity bottlenecks in data communication in modern society. Currently, the silicon photodetector plays a dominant role in high-speed optical communication across the visible-near-infrared spectrum. However, its intrinsic rigid structure, high working bias and low responsivity essentially limit its application in next-generation flexible optoelectronic devices. Herein, we report a narrow-bandgap non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) with a remarkable π-extension in the direction of both central and end units (CH17) with respect to the Y6 series, which demonstrates a more effective and compact 3D molecular packing, leading to lower trap states and energetic disorders in the photoactive film. Consequently, the optimized solution-processed organic photodetector (OPD) with CH17 exhibits a remarkable response time of 91 ns (λ = 880 nm) due to the high charge mobility and low parasitic capacitance, exceeding the values of most commercial Si photodiodes and all NFA-based OPDs operating in self-powered mode. More significantly, the flexible OPD exhibits negligible performance attenuation (<1%) after bending for 500 cycles, and maintains 96% of its initial performance even after 550 h of indoor exposure. Furthermore, the high-speed OPD demonstrates a high data transmission rate of 80 MHz with a bit error rate of 3.5 [Formula: see text] 10^-4, meaning it has great potential in next-generation high-speed flexible optical communication systems.

Keywords: flexible organic photodetector; high-speed NIR organic photodetector; light fidelity; narrow-bandgap non-fullerene acceptors; optical communication.