Fast Crystallization-Deposition of Orderly Molecule Level Heterojunction Thin Films Showing Tunable Up-Conversion and...

Molecular cocrystals have received much attention for tuning physicochemical properties in pharmaceutics, luminescence, organic electronics, and so on. However, the effective methods for the formation of orderly cocrystal thin films are still rather limited, which have largely restricted their photofunctional and optoelectronic applications. In this work, a fast crystallization-deposition procedure is put forward to obtain acridine (AD)-based cocrystals, which are self-assembled with three typical isophthalic acid derivatives (IPA, IPB, and TMA). The obtained donor-acceptor cocrystal complexes exhibit an adjustable energy level, wide range of photoluminescence color, and rotational angle-dependent polarized emission. The orderly and uniform cocrystal thin films further present tunable one-/two-photon up-conversion and different semiconductor properties. Particularly, AD-TMA cocrystal thin film shows a rare example of a molecule level heterojunction with the alternating arrangement of AD electronic acceptor layers and TMA electronic donor layers, and thus, provides a way for efficient mobility and separation of electron-hole pairs. A large on-off photocurrent ratio of more than 10⁴ can be achieved for the AD-TMA thin film, which is higher than state-of-the-art molecular semiconductor systems. Therefore, this work extends the application scopes of orderly cocrystal thin film materials for future luminescent and optoelectronic micro-/nanodevices.