Ground-state electron transfer in all-polymer donor-acceptor heterojunctionsShow others and affiliations
2020 (English)In: Nature Materials, ISSN 1476-1122, E-ISSN 1476-4660, Vol. 19, no 7, p. 738-744Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Doping of organic semiconductors is crucial for the operation of organic (opto)electronic and electrochemical devices. Typically, this is achieved by adding heterogeneous dopant molecules to the polymer bulk, often resulting in poor stability and performance due to dopant sublimation or aggregation. In small-molecule donor-acceptor systems, charge transfer can yield high and stable electrical conductivities, an approach not yet explored in all-conjugated polymer systems. Here, we report ground-state electron transfer in all-polymer donor-acceptor heterojunctions. Combining low-ionization-energy polymers with high-electron-affinity counterparts yields conducting interfaces with resistivity values five to six orders of magnitude lower than the separate single-layer polymers. The large decrease in resistivity originates from two parallel quasi-two-dimensional electron and hole distributions reaching a concentration of similar to 10(13) cm(-2). Furthermore, we transfer the concept to three-dimensional bulk heterojunctions, displaying exceptional thermal stability due to the absence of molecular dopants. Our findings hold promise for electro-active composites of potential use in, for example, thermoelectrics and wearable electronics. Doping through spontaneous electron transfer between donor and acceptor polymers is obtained by selecting organic semiconductors with suitable electron affinity and ionization energy, achieving high conductivity in blends and bilayer configuration.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP , 2020. Vol. 19, no 7, p. 738-744
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-164867DOI: 10.1038/s41563-020-0618-7ISI: 000518737300001PubMedID: 32152564OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-164867DiVA, id: diva2:1417760
Note
Funding Agencies|Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; VINNOVAVinnova [2015-04859]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research Council [2016-03979, 2016-06146, 2016-05498, 2016-05990, 2018-03824]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU) [2009 00971]; AForsk [18-313]; European Research Council (ERC)European Research Council (ERC) [637624]; Finnish Cultural FoundationFinnish Cultural Foundation; Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [61805211]; JST ALCA [JPMJAL1404]; Futaba Foundation; National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [DMR-1708450]; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)German Research Foundation (DFG) [FA 1502/1-1]
2020-03-302020-03-302023-12-28