Organic semiconductors for visible light communications

Abstract

<jats:p>Organic semiconductors are an important class of optoelectronic material that are widely studied because of the scope for tuning their properties by tuning their chemical structure, and simple fabrication to make flexible films and devices. Although most effort has focused on developing displays and lighting from these materials, their distinctive properties also make them of interest for visible light communications (VLCs). This article explains how their properties make them suitable for VLC and reviews the main uses that have been explored. On the transmitter side, record white VLC communication has been achieved by using organic semiconductors as colour converters, while direct modulation of organic light-emitting diodes is also possible and could be of interest for display-to-display communication. On the receiver side, organic solar cells can be used to harvest power and data simultaneously, and fluorescent antennas enable fast and sensitive receivers with large field of view.</jats:p> <jats:p>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Optical wireless communication’.</jats:p>

Optical wireless communication

“…While it has been shown that it is possible to achieve gigabit per second links using organic LEDs (OLEDs) [13], it has also been demonstrated that organic photovoltaic cells can be used as high-speed data detectors. This issue includes a review article by Samuel and co-workers [14], who have been leading the development of record achieving organic VLC devices.…”

Recent Progress on Luminescent Metal-Organic Framework-Involved Hybrid Materials for Rapid Determination of Contaminants in Environment and Food

“…So far, over 1300 species of LMOFs have been reported, from which much feasibility still hold up to be studied as phosphors for the approaching luminescent devices [84]. The large amount of LMOFs and their hybrid materials have been developed in the recent past as potential candidates for OLEDs application [85][86][87].…”

Optical Wireless Communication for the Internet of Things: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…The diffused LED beam, however, leads to lower signal strength, and thus relatively shorter achievable distance and data rate [76]. Recent research efforts aim to increase the data rate of LEDs recent studies show that Organic LEDs (OLEDs) can help achieve high data rates up to 1.13 Gbps [77]. Another study by Tsonev et al demonstrates a 3 Gbps FSO link utilizing a single 50-µm gallium nitride LED and Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme [78].…”