A review on organic spintronic materials and devices: I. Magnetic field effect on organic light emitting diodes

Organic spintronics is an emerging and potential platform for future electronics and display due to the intriguing properties of organic semiconductors (OSCs). For the past decade, studies have focused on three types of organic spintronic phenomena: (i) magnetic field effect (MFE) in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), where spin mixing between singlet and triplet polaron pairs (PP) can be influenced by an external magnetic field leading to organic magnetoresistive effect (OMAR); (ii) magnetoresistance (MR) in organic spin valves (OSVs), where spin injection, transport, manipulation, and detection have been demonstrated; and (iii) magnetoelectroluminescence (MEL) bipolar OSVs or spin-OLEDs, where spin polarized electrons and holes are simultaneously injected into the OSC layer, leading to the dependence of electroluminescence intensity on relative magnetization of the electrodes. In this first of two review papers, we present major experimental results on OMAR studies and current understanding of OMAR using several spin dependent processes in organic semiconductors. During the discussion, we highlight some of the outstanding challenges in this promising research field. Finally, we provide an outlook on the future of organic spintronics.