Printable Photodiodes Could Be Used for Visible Light Communication

A team at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has demonstrated a multichannel visible light communication system based on an organic photodetector array capable of demultiplexing optical signals without the need for additional optical filters. The researchers engineered a special ink formulation to print wavelength-selective bulk heterojunction organic photodetectors onto flexible carriers. They incorporated nonfullerene acceptors in a transparent polymer donor matrix to narrow and tune the optical response in the visible range without optical filters or light management techniques. In the KIT team’s approach, the optical properties of the bulk heterojunction system are decoupled from the viscoelastic ink properties....