Observation of Electroluminescence and Photovoltaic Response in Ionic Junctions
Daniel A. Bernards,1
Samuel Flores-Torres,2
Héctor D. Abruña,2
George G. Malliaras1*
Electronic devices primarily use electronic rather than ionic
charge carriers. Using soft-contact lamination, we fabricated
ionic junctions between two organic semiconductors with mobile
anions and cations, respectively. Mobile ionic charge was successfully
deployed to control the direction of electronic current flow
in semiconductor devices. As a result, these devices showed
electroluminescence under forward bias and a photovoltage upon
illumination with visible light. Thus, ionic charge carriers
can enhance the performance of existing electronic devices,
as well as enable new functionalities.
2 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ggm1{at}cornell.edu
