High-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics: a comparative study of alternative strategies

We present a review of the field of high-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics materials focusing on the sequence of methodological choices that determine each virtual screening protocol. These choices are present in all high-throughput virtual screenings and addressing them systematically will lead to optimised workflows and improve their applicability. We consider the range of properties that can be computed and illustrate how their accuracy can be determined depending on the quality and size of the experimental datasets. The approaches to generate candidates for virtual screening are also extremely varied and their relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The analysis of high-throughput virtual screening is almost never limited to the identification of top candidates and often new patterns and structure-property relations are the most interesting findings of such searches. The review reveals a very dynamic field constantly adapting to match an evolving landscape of applications, methodologies and datasets.

Pyrenoimidazole-fused phenanthridine derivatives with intense red excimer fluorescence in the solid state

A new series of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), namely, various pyrene-fused phenanthridines PyFPs having different substituents were developed as fluorescent emitters for optoelectronic applications.

Management of transition dipoles in organic hole-transporting materials under solar irradiation for perovskite solar cells

In organic hole-transporting material (HTM)-based p−i−n planar perovskite solar cells, which have simple and low-temperature processibility feasible to flexible devices, the incident light has to pass through the HTM before reaching the perovskite layer. Therefore, photo-excited state of organic HTM could become important during the solar cell operation, but this feature has not usually been considered for the HTM design. Here, we prove that enhancing their property at their photo-excited states, especially their transition dipole moments, can be a methodology to develop high efficiency p−i−n perovskite solar cells. The organic HTMs are designed to have high transition dipole moments at the excited states and simultaneously to preserve those property during the solar cell operation by their extended lifetimes through the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer process, consequently reducing the charge recombination and improving extraction properties of devices. Their UV-filtering ability is also beneficial to enhance the photostability of devices.

In perovskite solar cells, the excited state property of hole-transport layer is not usually considered for the devices. Here the authors design organic hole-transport materials with high transition dipoles having extended lifetime at the excited states to improve the charge extraction of the devices.

Pyrene–fluorescein-based colour-tunable AIE-active hybrid fluorophore material for potential live cell imaging applications

A novel hybrid fluorophore (FHPY) has been synthesized based on two standard fluorescent hydrophobic–hydrophilic molecules, viz. pyrene and fluorescein, with an objective to tune the AIE along with the morphology and live cell imaging.