Electron-donating amine-interlayer induced n-type doping of polymer:nonfullerene blends for efficient narrowband near-infrared photo-detection

Inherently narrowband near-infrared organic photodetectors are highly desired for many applications, including biological imaging and surveillance. However, they suffer from a low photon-to-charge conversion efficiencies and utilize spectral narrowing techniques which strongly rely on the used material or on a nano-photonic device architecture. Here, we demonstrate a general and facile approach towards wavelength-selective near-infrared phtotodetection through intentionally n-doping 500-600 nm-thick nonfullerene blends. We show that an electron-donating amine-interlayer can induce n-doping, resulting in a localized electric field near the anode and selective collection of photo-generated carriers in this region. As only weakly absorbed photons reach this region, the devices have a narrowband response at wavelengths close to the absorption onset of the blends with a high spectral rejection ratio. These spectrally selective photodetectors exhibit zero-bias external quantum efficiencies of similar to 20-30% at wavelengths of 900-1100 nm, with a full-width-at-half-maximum of <= 50 nm, as well as detectivities of >10(12) Jones.

Automated summary

Researchers have developed a general and facile approach for wavelength-selective near-infrared photodetection using nonfullerene blends. These spectrally selective photodetectors demonstrate high external quantum efficiencies and detectivities at specific wavelengths.