Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor

Chew, Annabel; Rojas, Geoffrey A.; Sini, Gjergji; Haugstad, Greg; Belianinov, Alex; Kalinin, Sergei; Hong, Li; Risko, Chad M.; Bredas, Jean-Luc E.; Salleo, Alberto; Frisbie, C. Daniel

doi:10.1038/ncomms10270

Title: Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor

Journal Article · Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10270· OSTI ID:1265695

Chew, Annabel ^[1]; Rojas, Geoffrey A. ^[2]; Sini, Gjergji ^[3]; Haugstad, Greg ^[4]; Belianinov, Alex ^[2]; Kalinin, Sergei ^[2]; Hong, Li ^[5]; Risko, Chad M. ^[2]; Bredas, Jean-Luc E. ^[2]; Salleo, Alberto ^[1]; Frisbie, C. Daniel ^[4]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Cergy-Pontoise Univ. (France)
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Establishing fundamental relationships between strain and work function (WF) in organic semiconductors is important not only for understanding the electrical properties of organic thin films, which are subject to both intrinsic and extrinsic strains, but also for developing flexible electronic devices. Here we investigate tensile and compressive strain effects on the WF of rubrene single crystals. Mechanical strain induced by thermal expansion mismatch between the substrate and rubrene is quantified by X-ray diffraction. The corresponding WF change is measured by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy. The WF of rubrene increases (decreases) significantly with in-plane tensile (compressive) strain, which agrees qualitatively with density functional theory calculations. An elastic-to-plastic transition, characterized by a steep rise of the WF, occurs at ~0.05% tensile strain along the rubrene -stacking direction. The results provide the first concrete link between mechanical strain and the WF of an organic semiconductor and have important implications for understanding the connection between structural and electronic disorder (charge traps) in soft organic electronic materials.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; DMR-0706011; DMR-1420013

OSTI ID:: 1265695

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1259668

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 67 works

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