Organic Optoelectronics: The Case of Oligothiophenes

This chapter illustrates the relationships between structural and optical properties in oligothiophenes. In particular, it highlights the proper functionalization of the thienyl units with oxygen atoms; it is possible to increase the photoluminescence efficiency up to values comparable and even better than those of the best organic materials commonly used as active compounds in light emitting devices. Such a characteristic, together with the high chemical stability and the wide color tunability, makes oligothiophene-5,5'-dioxides excellent candidates not only for applications to electronic devices, but also to optoelectronic devices, such as multi-color LEDs and lasers. Recent achievement of high-performances thiophene-based devices is discussed