Furan Derivatives: An Emerging Class of Organic Semiconductors

pi-Conjugated molecules are widely used in the fields of organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes, etc. pi-Conjugated furan derivatives have attracted widespread interest due to the high carrier mobility, high photoluminescent quantum efficiency and good solubility. It has been corroborated that furan derivatives are a class of good semiconducting materials by the experimental and theoretical research results. A furan ring is frequently integrated into pi-conjugated molecules either by fusion with carbon pi-system or by using as a pi-linker, which significantly alters the photophysical, electrochemical and charge transporting properties of the pi-conjugated molecules. Furan derivatives could be used to fabricate high performance organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes. In addition to a brief introduction of the characteristics of furan derivatives, the author introduced the research progress of the application of furan derivatives in the fields of organic field-effect transistors, organic solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes.