Participating Group (2020-2021)
Development of Semiconducting Soft Crystals and Application to Opto-Electronic Devices
Co-Researcher: Maekawa Masahiko (Research Institute for Science and Technology, Kindai University, Professor)
Research Outline
We have synthesized a variety of semiconducting coordination polymers with narrow band gap energy structures by combining copper halides and organic ligands, having similar energy levels of d-orbitals and HOMOs of the organic ligands. Recently, we are developing semiconducting soft crystals showing both conductivity and luminescence properties, and investigating the physical properties. In this project, we will try to develop a new semiconducting soft crystals and apply them to optoelectronic devices. In particular, we will show new potentials of semiconducting soft crystals by applying them to optoelectronic devices such as organic light emitting diodes (OREDs), thin film solar cells, field effect transistors (FETs), secondary batteries and thermoelectric conversion devices.

Participating Group (2018-2019)
Application of Electrical Field Sensitive Soft Crystals to Optoelectronic Devices
Co-Researcher: Maekawa Masahiko (Research Institute for Science and Technology, Kindai University, Professor)
Research Outline
Application of Electrical Field Sensitive Soft Crystals to Optoelectronic Devices
We have synthesized a variety of semiconducting coordination polymers with narrow band gap energy structures by combining copper halides and organic ligands, having similar energy levels of d-orbitals and HOMOs of the organic ligands. In these semiconducting coordination polymers, some coordination polymers exhibit ferroelectric behaviors due to the displacement of the copper ion. Such electric field sensitive soft crystals can be expected to develop new optoelectronic devices due to the huge dielectric constants. In this study, we will show new potentials of electrical field sensitive soft crystals with huge dielectric constants by applying them to optoelectronic devices such as field effect transistors (FET), capacitors, thermoelectric conversion devices.
Representative Achievements
- T. Okubo, K. Himoto, K. Tanishima, S. Fukuda, Y. Noda, M. Nakayama, K. Sugimoto, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, “Crystal Structure and Band-Gap Engineerign of Copper(I) Broide and a Bridging Acceptor Ligand”, Inorg. Chem., 2018, 57, 2373-2376.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b02923. - K. Himoto, S. Suzuki, T. Okubo, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa “A new semiconducting 1D Cu(I)-Cu(II) mixed-valence coordination polymer with Cu(II) dimethylpiperidine-dithiocarbamate and a tetranuclear Cu(I)-Br cluster unit”, New J. Chem., 2018, 42, 3995-3998.
DOI: 10.1039/c7nj04763k. - K. Himoto, T. Horii, T. Syoji, T. Okubo, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, “A new semiconducting coordination polymer consisting of copper(I)-iodide and 3-pyridinecarboxaldehyde”, Inorg. Chem. Commun., 2018, 88, 34-37.
DOI: 10.1016/j.inoche.2017.12.012. - Kenji Nakatani, Kento Himoto, Yuki Kono, Yuuki Nakahashi, Haruho Anma, Takashi Okubo, Masahiko Maekawa and Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, “Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Electroconducting Properties of a 1D Mixed-Valence Cu(I)–Cu(II) Coordination Polymer with a Dicyclohexyl Dithiocarbamate Ligand”, Crystals, 5, 215-225, 2015.
DOI: 10.3390/cryst5020215. - T. Okubo, H. Anma, Y. Nakahashi, M. Maekawa and T. Kuroda-Sowa “New one-dimensional mixed-valence coordination polymers including an iodine-bridged pentanuclear copper(I) cluster unit”, Polyhedron, 2014, 69, 103-109.
DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2013.11.026. - T. Okubo, H. Anma, N. Tanaka, K. Himoto, S. Seki, A. Saeki, M. Maekawa and T. Kuroda-Sowa, “Crystal structure and carrier transport properties of a new semiconducting 2D coordination polymer with a 3,5-dimethylpiperidine dithiocarbamate ligand”, Chem. Commun., 49, 4316-4318, 2013.
DOI: 10.1039/C2CC37137E. - N. Tanaka, T. Okubo, H. Anma, K. H. Kim, Y. Inuzuka, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, “New Halide-Bridged 1D Mixed-Valence CuI–CuII Coordination Polymers Bearing a Piperidine–1–carbodithioato Ligand: Crystal Structure, Magnetic and Conductive Properties, and Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells”, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2013, 3384-3391.
DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201300188.
Publications
Academic papers/reviewed
A03-20
- “Organic Thin-film Solar Cells Using Benzotrithiophene Derivatives Bearing Acceptor Units as Non-fullerene Acceptors”, *K. Matsumoto, K. Yamashita, Y. Sakoda, H. Ezoe, Y. Tanaka, T. Okazaki, M. Ohkita, S. Tanaka, Y. Aoki, D. Kiriya, S. Kashimura, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, *T. Okubo, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2021, 4620-4629.
- “Organic Thin-film Solar Cells Using Benzotrithiophene Derivatives Bearing Acceptor Units as Non-fullerene Acceptors”, *K. Matsumoto, K. Yamashita, Y. Sakoda, H. Ezoe, Y. Tanaka, T. Okazaki, M. Ohkita, S. Tanaka, Y. Aoki, D. Kiriya, S. Kashimura, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, *T. Okubo, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2021, 4620-4629.
- "Crystal Structure of an Iodido-Bridged Dinuclear Copper(I) Complex with 3,6-Bis(dimethylamino)acridine”, M. Ohkita, A. Fujiwara, T. Nishiyama, M. Maekawa, T. Kuroda-Sowa, *T. Okubo, X-ray Structure Analysis Online, 37, 29-31 (2021).
- "Spin Crossover in Bipyridine Derivative Bridged One-Dimensional Iron(III) Coordination Polymer" *R. Ishikawa, T. Noda, S. Ueno, T. Okubo, H. Yamakawa, K. Sakamoto, S. Kawata, Magnetochemistry, 6, 29 (2020). (領域内共同研究 A03 公募 石川)
- "Syntheses and structural characterizations of mononuclear Ir(III) hydride complexes with 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine in the κ2N,N' and κ3N,N',N″ coordination modes" *M. Maekawa, K. Terada, S. Oda, K. Sugimoto, T. Okubo, T. Kuroda-Sowa, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 514, 119962 (2021).
International conferences
A03-20
- Crystal structure and physical properties of new Cu(I)-Ni(II) heterometal coordination polymer including dithiobenzoate lignads" Tomoki Nishiyama, Takuto Mibu, Takashi Okubo, Masahiko Maekawa, Yusaku Suenaga, Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)
- Fabrication and evaluation of organic electroluminescence using thiophene-condensed benzothiadiazole derivatives" Kauri Iba, Yu-ta Nakagawa, Hinata Ezoe, Masahiko Maekawa, Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, Takashi Okubo, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)
- Fabrication and evaluation of ternary blend organic thin film solar cells using benzotrithiophene derivatives" Yuki Tanaka, Kazuhiro Yamashita, Hinata Ezoe, Tatsuya Okazaki, Masahiko Maekawa, Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, Takashi Okubo, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)
- Synthesis and characterization of π-conjugated compounds with multiple thiophen rings" Yu-ta Nakagawa, Takashi Okubo, Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)
- Synthesis and evaluation of physical properties of 2-dimensional coordination polymers consisting of copper(I) halides and nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds" Keisuke Tanaka, Tomoki Nishiyama, Masahiko Maekawa, Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, Takashi Okubo, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)
- " Crystal structures, physical properties and device applications of semiconducting soft crystals containing copper halides" Takashi Okubo, Misaki Ohkita, Hinata Ezoe, Tomoki Nishiyama, Nobutaka Yoshimura, Sae Kondo, Masahiko Maekawa, Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa, Atsushi Kobayashi, Masako Kato, Pacifichem 2021 (VIRTUAL, Dec. 16-21, 2021)