Furan Derivatives: An Emerging Class of Organic Semiconductors

π-Conjugated molecules are widely used in the fields of organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes, etc. π-Conjugated furan derivatives have attracted widespread interest due to the high carrier mobility, high photoluminescent quantum efficiency and good solubility.It has been corroborated that furan derivatives are a class of good semiconducting materials by the experimental and theoretical research results.A furan ring is frequently integrated into π-conjugated molecules either by fusion with carbon π-system or by using as a π-linker, which significantly alters the photophysical, electrochemical and charge transporting properties of the π-conjugated molecules.Furan derivatives could be used to fabricate high performance organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes.In addition to a brief introduction of the characteristics of furan derivatives, the author introduced the research progress of the application of furan derivatives in the fields of organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes.Keywords furan derivative; organic semiconducting material; organic field-effect transistor; organic solar cell; dye-sensitized solar cell; organic light-emitting diode 作为有机半导体材料, π-共轭分子广泛用于有机发 光二极管(OLEDs) [1,2] 、有机场效应晶体管(OFETs) [3～5] 、 有 机 太 阳 能 电 池 (OSCs) [6 ～ 8] 和 染 料 敏 化 太 阳 能 电 池 (DSSCs) [9,10] 中. 各种碳原子稠环化合物和含杂原子稠环 化合物都可以用作有机半导体材料.尽管科学家们进行 了广泛的研究, 但是迄今为止综合性质优良的有机半导 体材料仍然较少.噻吩衍生物具有稳定性好、分子共平 面性好以及载流子传输性质优良等优点, 是目前研究得 最多的一类有机分子材料 [11～14] .呋喃是最简单的杂环芳香化合物之一, 与噻吩具有 十分相似的化学结构和电子性质.呋喃环已经广泛被用 于构建 π-共轭分子, 呋喃衍生物具有以下的优势: (1) 用氧取代硫原子一方面会降低芳香性, 分子具有更多的 醌式结构特征, 使得 π-电子更好地离域; 另一方面可以 降低氧化电位, 使得 HOMO 轨道能级升高, 因此有利于 空穴的注入和传输.(2)噻吩含有相对重的硫原子, 由于 重原子产生旋轨偶合作用发生内转换(ISC), 所以导致 荧光淬灭.