This article reviews the development of a new category of motion sensors including linear and angular accelerometers and seismometers based on molecular electronic transducer (MET) technology. This technology utilizes a liquid not only as an inertial mass, but also as one of the main elements in the conversion of mechanical motion into electric current. The amplification process is similar to that in a vacuum triode. Therefore, it is possible to achieve signal amplification close to 10⁸. Motion sensors demonstrating wide frequency and dynamic range and sensitivity that are one to two orders of magnitude better than MEMS devices of the same size have been developed.

A visible-blind ultraviolet (UV) photodetector can detect UV signals and is not interfered with by visible light or infrared light in the environment. In order to realize high-performance visible-blind UV organic photodetectors (OPDs), we design photomultiplication-type (PM-type) OPDs by using a novel strategy. Firstly, wide bandgap organic semiconductor materials, which do not absorb visible light, are selected as donors to absorb UV light. Secondly, a very small amount of C₆₀ is used as an acceptor to trap photogenerated electrons. These accumulating electrons near the Al electrode form a potential, which leads to band bending and narrowing of the interface barrier, thereby assisting hole-tunneling injection to form a multiplication. The fabricated visible-blind UV PM-type OPDs with donor/acceptor doping ratio of 50 : 1 exhibit a narrowband response with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of approximately 36 nm, an ultrahigh external quantum efficiency of 1.08 × 10⁶% and a remarkable specific detectivity of 1.28 × 10¹⁴ jones at 335 nm wavelength under −14 V bias. The UV-to-visible rejection ratio exceeds 10³ by adjusting the donor/acceptor mixing ratios. The devices made with other wide bandgap organic materials also showed similar performance, indicating that this device structure provides an effective method for the preparation of high-performance visible-blind UV PM-type OPDs. In addition, we prepared a flexible visible-blind UV PM-type OPD based on a PET substrate and integrated it with a flexible OLED to fabricate a wearable UV monitor, which can visually detect the intensity of UV light.

The most important advantage of motion parameter transducers based on mass and charge transport in electrochemical systems is exceptionally high rate of mechanical signal conversion to electric...

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials have shown attractive prospects in the fields of biological probes, chemical sensing, optoelectronic systems and stimuli responses. Here, we have successfully fabricated photomultiplication-type organic photodetectors based on an AIE material by designing a device structure. The high photoconductive gain was attributed to the interfacial trap-assisted hole-tunneling injection caused by MoO₃ as the trap for electrons. The fabricated AIE-based photomultiplication-type organic photodetectors exhibited the figures of merits of high external quantum efficiency in excess of 60 000%, responsivity of 172 A W⁻¹, detectivity of 3.08 × 10¹² Jones, and photoresponse with a rise time of 1.69 ms. Moreover, the devices also showed good stability with a half-life of 700 hours at continuous testing under ambient conditions, which makes them one of the most stable OPDs reported so far. The results demonstrate that AIE molecules are an excellent kind of photodetective material.