A major global issue that the world is facing today is the upcoming depletion of fossil fuels and the energy crisis. In 1998, the global annual energy consumption was 12. 7 TW; of which 80% was generated from fossil fuels. This also translates into huge annual emissions of CO that leads to massive environmental problems, 2 particularly the global warming, which could be disastrous. Future global annual energy needs are also estimated to rise dramatically. A major challenge confronting the world is to ?nd an additional 14-20 TW by 2050 when our energy reserves based on fossil fuels are vanishing. The massive demand for energy would require materials and/or processes that would help to provide new sources of clean ren- able energy or to develop processes that would harvest energy or to better utilize energy in an ef?cient manner. The present monograph, WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics - Recent Advances and Applications, focuses on a very important and timely subject of topical interest that deals with the more ef?cient use of energy through white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) for solid-state lighting and the development of clean sources of renewable energy through the harvesting of light energy for conversion into electrical energy in organic photovoltaics. While LED solid-state lighting and photovoltaics have been dominated by inorganic semiconductor materials and silicon-based solar cells, there have been growing interests in the development of WOLEDs and organic photovoltaics.

Functional materials research is one of the high priority strategic areas of - st velopmentinscienceandtechnologyinthe21 century.Amongstthevarietyof functions,theinteractionofmatterwithlighttogeneratelight-drivenorpho- responsive properties has always been one of the most appealing and attr- tive areas. Recent advances in the exploitation of transition metal complexes in bringing about photo-induced functions have attracted growing attention, particularly in areas related to materials, energy, and biomedical research. Selected examples include the development of molecular triplet emitters for organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), optical and photo-switches, pho- chemical energy storage, dye-sensitized solar cells, photochemical molecular devices(PMD)andmachines,opticalandluminescenceprobesandchemos- sors,luminescentlabelsandtagsforbiomolecules,andluminescencesignaling and imaging. This volume serves to provide the readers with some fundamentals of - minescent transition metal complexes and the recent exciting developments of a selected variety of functions and potential applications that transition metal complexes can offer for the betterment of the society in areas related to materials, energy, and biomedical research. The ?rst chapter of this volume by Balch discussed the current progress in two-coordinate luminescent gold(I) complexes. This class of complexes is well-known to show weak metal***metal interactions that lead to the iso- tionofnovel architecturesand polymorphism fromrelatively simple building blocksandtheappearanceofuniqueelectronicabsorptionandemissionsp- troscopicfeatures.Theeffectoftheenvironment,suchassolventsandcounter ions, on the luminescence behavior of a number of two-coordinate gold(I) complexes was discussed.

Functional materials research is one of the high priority strategic areas of - st velopmentinscienceandtechnologyinthe21 century.Amongstthevarietyof functions,theinteractionofmatterwithlighttogeneratelight-drivenorpho- responsive properties has always been one of the most appealing and attr- tive areas. Recent advances in the exploitation of transition metal complexes in bringing about photo-induced functions have attracted growing attention, particularly in areas related to materials, energy, and biomedical research. Selected examples include the development of molecular triplet emitters for organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), optical and photo-switches, pho- chemical energy storage, dye-sensitized solar cells, photochemical molecular devices(PMD)andmachines,opticalandluminescenceprobesandchemos- sors,luminescentlabelsandtagsforbiomolecules,andluminescencesignaling and imaging. This volume serves to provide the readers with some fundamentals of - minescent transition metal complexes and the recent exciting developments of a selected variety of functions and potential applications that transition metal complexes can offer for the betterment of the society in areas related to materials, energy, and biomedical research. The ?rst chapter of this volume by Balch discussed the current progress in two-coordinate luminescent gold(I) complexes. This class of complexes is well-known to show weak metal***metal interactions that lead to the iso- tionofnovel architecturesand polymorphism fromrelatively simple building blocksandtheappearanceofuniqueelectronicabsorptionandemissionsp- troscopicfeatures.Theeffectoftheenvironment,suchassolventsandcounter ions, on the luminescence behavior of a number of two-coordinate gold(I) complexes was discussed.

A major global issue that the world is facing today is the upcoming depletion of fossil fuels and the energy crisis. In 1998, the global annual energy consumption was 12. 7 TW; of which 80% was generated from fossil fuels. This also translates into huge annual emissions of CO that leads to massive environmental problems, 2 particularly the global warming, which could be disastrous. Future global annual energy needs are also estimated to rise dramatically. A major challenge confronting the world is to ?nd an additional 14-20 TW by 2050 when our energy reserves based on fossil fuels are vanishing. The massive demand for energy would require materials and/or processes that would help to provide new sources of clean ren- able energy or to develop processes that would harvest energy or to better utilize energy in an ef?cient manner. The present monograph, WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics - Recent Advances and Applications, focuses on a very important and timely subject of topical interest that deals with the more ef?cient use of energy through white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) for solid-state lighting and the development of clean sources of renewable energy through the harvesting of light energy for conversion into electrical energy in organic photovoltaics. While LED solid-state lighting and photovoltaics have been dominated by inorganic semiconductor materials and silicon-based solar cells, there have been growing interests in the development of WOLEDs and organic photovoltaics.