Van der Waals heterostructures have emerged as a new class of materials with great potential for a wide range of applications. These heterostructures are formed by materials with dangling-bond-free surfaces that are stacked and held together by van der Waals forces. Because van der Waals forces are nondirectional, a large variety of heterostructures can be assembled by combining materials with different dimensionality, such as two-dimensional (2D) materials, organic molecules, polymers, and nanotubes. This opens a wide avenue for exploration and innovation, offering the possibility of building systems with properties that are not present in the individual components.

Combining 2D materials with organic molecules, in particular, is very attractive for applications that require flexibility and where size and weight are important parameters to be considered, such as in wearable, portable and mobile applications. Organic molecules offer the possibility of controlled and scalable synthesis, excellent optical absorption efficiency, and photo- and temperature induced conformational changes, while 2D materials often show relative high

carrier mobility and tunable (through layer thickness, defects, doping and strain) electronic and optical properties. Combining both systems could stabilize the organic molecules and lead to heterostructures with both high carrier mobility and high optical absorption efficiency, which is promising for several applications, including photodetectors, photovoltaics and catalysts; additionally, organic molecules could also enhance the properties of the 2D materials by doping or passivation.

This mini-colloquium will focus on the physics and chemistry of organic/2D heterostructures, considering theoretical/computational and experimental aspects, and will explore potential technological applications of such heterostructures.