Solution-processed organic infrared photodetectors operating beyond 1.4 μm for sensitive environmental monitoring.

Authors

Yifei Geng, Tengfei Li, Zhenzhen Zhang, Huiqing Hou, Yuze Lin

Published in

Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 41. Pages eaeg4558. Oct 09, 2026. Epub Oct 07, 2026.

Abstract

Photon energies in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) beyond 1.4 μm enable access to vibrational-overtone signatures of O-H, C-H, and N-H bonds in pollutants and waste materials, offering an imaging-based nondestructive approach for environmental monitoring. However, current SWIR imaging technologies rely on costly epitaxial semiconductors incompatible with monolithic integration, limiting consumer-grade deployment. Here we report a cost-effective organic SWIR imager with response beyond 1.4 μm, integrating high-detectivity organic photodetectors (OPDs) with amorphous silicon thin-film transistors via solution processing. The developed highly-ordered SWIR organic semiconductors with (halogenated) thiophene-fused quinoid terminals exhibit ultra-narrow optical bandgaps of 0.68-0.94 eV and Urbach energies down to 23 meV. The SWIR OPDs achieve spectral response from 0.3 μm to 1.5-1.7 μm with responsivities up to ∼0.1 A W^-1 and specific detectivities of 2.03-4.60 × 10¹⁰ Jones at 1.4 μm. The active-matrix SWIR imagers achieve accurate oil-leak monitoring in simulated seawater (R² = 0.993-0.997) and reliable waste-textile classification (silhouette score = 0.824), demonstrating their capabilities in environmental monitoring.

PMID:
42842652
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Oct 2026.

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