Recent Developments in Organic Photodetectors for Future Industrial Applications: A Review

Photodetectors are becoming indispensable in the vital technological domains of imaging and light sensing. A low-noise spectral density, which yields an enhanced specific detectivity, is a vital requirement in addition to a high responsivity. Over the last two decades, there has been interest in dark current suppression in OPDs. The most often employed strategies are charge transport layer architecture, alignment of contacts, layers for charge selection, interlayers to improve the bottom contact, and preventing shunt routes by increasing layer thickness. The highest responsivity and detectivity reported for OPDs are 1743 A/W and 1.3 × 1015 Jones, respectively. The dark current density (Jd) of the OPDs have been successfully reduced to the level of 10−14 A/cm2. This article highlights the advanced OPD structures and their performance, recent developments in organic semiconductors for the manufacturing of OPDs and various industrial applications of OPDs. The ability of OPDs to transform optical signals into electric signals has several uses in industrial auto-control systems, optical communication systems, imaging, drug screening, model encryption, quantum information, and remote sensing.