Charge-transfer complexes and their role in exciplex emission and near-infrared photovoltaics

Charge transfer and interactions at organic heterojunctions (OHJs) are known to have critical influences on various properties of organic electronic devices. In this Research News article, a short review is given from the electronic viewpoint on how the local molecular interactions and interfacial energetics at P/N OHJs contribute to the recombination/dissociation of electron-hole pairs. Very often, the P-type materials donate electrons to the N-type materials, giving rise to charge-transfer complexes (CTCs) with a P ^δ+-N^δ- configuration. A recently observed opposite charge-transfer direction in OHJs is also discussed (i.e., N-type material donates electrons to P-type material to form P^δ-- N^δ+). Recent studies on the electronic structures of CTC-forming material pairs are also summarized. The formation of P ^δ--N^δ+-type CTCs and their correlations with exciplex emission are examined. Furthermore, the potential applications of CTCs in NIR photovoltaic devices are reviewed. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.