The impact of alkyl side‐chain substituents on conjugated polymers on the photovoltaic properties of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells has been studied extensively, but their impact on small molecules has not received adequate attention. To reveal the effect of side chains, a series of star‐shaped molecules based on a triphenylamine (TPA) core, bithiophene, and dicyanovinyl units derivatized with various alkyl end‐capping groups of methyl, ethyl, hexyl and dodecyl is synthesiyed and studied to comprehensively investigate structure‐properties relationships. UV‐vis absorption and cyclic voltammetry data show that variations of alkyl chain length have little influence on the absorption and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)‐lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels. However, these seemingly negligible changes have a pronounced impact on the morphology of BHJ thin films as well as their charge carrier separation and transportation, which in turn influences the photovoltaic properties of these small‐molecule‐based BHJ devices. Solution‐processed organic solar cells (OSCs) based on the small molecule with the shortest methyl end groups exhibit high short circuit current (Jsc) and fill factor (FF), with an efficiency as high as 4.76% without any post‐treatments; these are among the highest reported for solution‐processed OSCs based on star‐shaped molecules.

Length of the terminal alkyl chains at dicyanovinyl (DCV) groups of two dithienosilole (DTS) containing small molecules (DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Me)2 and DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Hex)2 ) is investigated to evaluate how this affects the molecular solubility and blend morphology as well as their performance in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (OSCs). While the DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Me)2 (a solubility of 5 mg mL−1) system exhibits both high short circuit current density (J sc) and high fill factor, the DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Hex)2 (a solubility of 24 mg mL−1) system in contrast suffers from a poor blend morphology as examined by atomic force morphology and grazing incidence X‐ray scattering measurements, which limit the photovoltaic properties. The charge generation, transport, and recombination dynamics associated with the limited device performance are investigated for both systems. Nongeminate recombination losses in DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Hex)2 system are demonstrated to be significant by combining space charge limited current analysis and light intensity dependence of current–voltage characteristics in combination with photogenerated charge carrier extraction by linearly increasing voltage and transient photovoltage measurements. DTS(Oct)2‐(2T‐DCV‐Me)2 in contrast performs nearly ideal with no evidence of nongeminate recombination, space charge effects, or mobility limitation. These results demonstrate the importance of alkyl chain engineering for solution‐processed OSCs based on small molecules as an essential design tool to overcome transport limitations.

and fill factor (FF). The study demonstrates that such an approach can represent an interesting tool for the effective modulation of the photovoltaic properties of the organic solar cells (OSCs) at a moderate cost.

Self-assembly of highly soluble water-stable tetramethyldisiloxane-based dimer of α,α'-dialkylquaterthiophene on the water-air interface was investigated by Langmuir, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, and X-ray reflectivity techniques. The conditions for formation of very homogeneous crystalline monolayer Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of the oligomer were found. Monolayer organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on these LB films as a semiconducting layer showed hole mobilities up to 3 × 10(-3) cm(2)/(V s), on-off ratio of 10(5), small hysteresis, and high long-term stability. The electrical performance of the LB films studied is close to that for the same material in the bulk or in the monolayer OFETs prepared from water vapor sensitive chlorosilyl derivatives of quaterthiophene by self-assembling from solution. These findings show high potential of disiloxane-based LB films in monolayer OFETs for large-area organic electronics.

Monolayer organic field effect transistors (OFETs) based on novel BTBT dimer demonstrate excellent electrical performance and fast response to ammonia vapours.

We report on bulk structures of a family of quaterthiophene (4T) derivatives with linear and branched end groups such as α,α'-dihexylquaterthiophene (Hex-4T-Hex), α,α'-didecyl-quaterthiophene (Dec-4T-Dec) and α,α'-bis(2ethylhexyl)quaterthiophene (EH-4T-EH), tetramethyldisiloxane-based dimers D2-Und-4T-EH and D2-Und-4T-Hex, and carbosilane-siloxane-based tetramers D4-Und-4T-EH and D4-Und-4T-Hex. The dimers and tetramers contain undecylenic (Und) spacers between the disiloxane and 4Tunits of the molecule. The impact of the molecular architecture on the bulk structure at different temperatures is addressed with X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. For all the studied quaterthiophenecontaining organosilicon multipods the formation of 4T-crystal sub-lattice is observed. The alkyl periphery plays an important role in the molecular packing and thermal stability of the ordered phase. They can stabilize or destabilize the crystal phase, depending on their length and architecture. The quaterthiophenes with 2-ethylhexyl end groups adopt a zig-zag conformation in the crystalline state at room temperature. This change of conformation leads to a significant decrease of the polymorphic transition and isotropization temperatures. The efficiency of 4T packing in the sub-lattice is estimated from the molecular cross-section (S) in the plane normal to the molecular axis. Correlations between S and field-effect charge carrier mobility are established.

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High structural quality of crystalline organic semiconductors is the basis of their superior electrical performance. Recent progress in quasi two-dimensional (2D) organic semiconductor films challenges bulk single crystals because both demonstrate competing charge-carrier mobilities. As the thinnest molecular semiconductors, monolayers offer numerous advantages such as unmatched flexibility and light transparency as well  they are an excellent platform for sensing. Oligothiophene-based materials are among the most promising ones for light-emitting applications because of the combination of efficient luminescence and decent charge-carrier mobility. Here, we demonstrate single-crystal monolayers of unprecedented structural order grown from four alkyl-substituted thiophene and thiophene–phenylene oligomers. The monolayer crystals with lateral dimensions up to 3 mm were grown from the solution on substrates with various surface energies and roughness by drop or spin-casting with subsequent slow solvent evaporation. Our data indicate that 2D crystallization resulting in single-crystal monolayers occurs at the receding gas–solution–substrate contact line. The structural properties of the monolayers were studied by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction/reflectivity, atomic force and differential interference contrast microscopies, and imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry. These highly ordered monolayers demonstrated an excellent performance in organic field-effect transistors approaching the best values reported for the thiophene or thiophene–phenylene oligomers. Our findings pave the way for efficient monolayer organic electronics highlighting the high potential of simple solution-processing techniques for the growth of large-size single-crystal monolayers with excellent structural order and electrical performance competing against bulk single crystals.