Optoelectronics
“Optoelectronicsis the study and application of electronic devices that source, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, light often includes invisible forms of radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared, in addition to visible light. Optoelectronic devices are electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical transducers, or instruments that use such devices in their operation. Electro-optics is often erroneously used as a synonym, but is in fact a wider branch of physics that deals with all interactions between light and electric fields, whether or not they form part of an electronic device.”
“Optoelectronics is based on the quantum mechanical effects of light on semiconducting materials, sometimes in the presence of electric fields.”
Review Articles
Conjugated rod–coil block copolymers: Synthesis, morphology, photophysical properties, and stimuli-responsive applications Review Article
(603-637) Progress in Polymer Science 36 #5 (2011)
Liu et al of National Taiwan University, Taiwan, review recent progress on the synthesis, morphology, optoelectronic properties and applications of such block copolymers. The combination of the precise condensation and living polymerization through the grafting-from or grafting-onto methodology produce various architectures of conjugated rod–coil block copolymers, including rod–coil, coil–rod–coil, rod–coil–coil, and rod–coil–rod. Different structures include solution micelles, thin films or bulk samples, polymer brushes and electrospun nanofibers. The control of nanosize domain and the aligned direction of conjugated rods are the key issues for enhancing the optoelectronic device performance. Moreover, novel multifunctional sensory materials based on combining the tunable photophysical properties of the π-conjugated rod and the stimuli-responsive coil are also reviewed. Conjugated rod–coil block copolymers could spark the future evolution of nanostructured polymers for multifunctional device applications. (RDC 4/7/2011)