Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Conjugated Polymer Controlled Morphology and Charge Transport of Small-Molecule Organic Semiconductors

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; DOE/OSTI
  2. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
  3. Dalian Univ. (China). Key Lab. for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of the Ministry of Education
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
  5. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this study, we report an efective approach to tune the crystallization, microstructure and charge transport of solution-processed organic semiconductors by blending with a conjugated polymer additive poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). When 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS pentacene) was used as a model semiconductor material to mix with diferent amount of P3HT, their intermolecular interactions led to distinctive TIPS pentacene flm morphologies, including randomly-oriented crystal ribbons, elongated needles with enhanced long-range order, and grasslike curved microwires with interlinkages. Each type of morphology was found to further correlate to considerably diferent charge transport and device performance. As compared to pristine TIPS pentacene devices, bottom-gate, top-contact OTFTs with 2% in weight P3HT additive showed a 2-fold and 5-fold improvement of average feld-efect mobility and performance consistency (defned as the ratio of average mobility to the standard deviation), respectively. The improvement in transistor electrical performance can be attributed to the combined efect of enhanced crystal orientation and uniformity, as well as increased areal coverage. This work can be applied beyond the particular example demonstrated in this study and to tune the charge transport of other small-molecule organic semiconductors in general.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Engineering & Technology
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1629090
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (44)

Enhanced Performance Consistency in Nanoparticle/TIPS Pentacene-Based Organic Thin Film Transistors journal July 2011
High Mobility Field-Effect Transistors with Versatile Processing from a Small-Molecule Organic Semiconductor journal April 2013
Self-Suspended Nanomesh Scaffold for Ultrafast Flexible Photodetectors Based on Organic Semiconducting Crystals journal May 2018
High-Mobility, Solution-Processed Organic Field-Effect Transistors from C8-BTBT:Polystyrene Blends journal June 2018
The Role of Weak Molecular Dopants in Enhancing the Performance of Solution-Processed Organic Field-Effect Transistors journal November 2018
Interdigitated Ambipolar Active Layer for Organic Phototransistor with Balanced Charge Transport journal February 2019
Solvent Effect on Morphology and Optical Properties of Poly(3-hexylthiophene):TIPS-Pentacene Blends journal November 2017
Highly enhanced performance of integrated piezo photo-transistor with dual inverted OLED gate and nanowire array channel journal December 2019
Self-assembly of organic channel/polymer dielectric layer in solution process for low-voltage thin-film transistors journal October 2010
Air-flow navigated crystal growth for TIPS pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors journal October 2012
High-speed organic single-crystal transistors gated with short-channel air gaps: Efficient hole and electron injection in organic semiconductor crystals journal June 2013
Improving performance of TIPS pentacene-based organic thin film transistors with small-molecule additives journal January 2014
Solution-based 5,6,11,12-tetrachlorotetracene crystal growth for high-performance organic thin film transistors journal July 2015
Temperature gradient controlled crystal growth from TIPS pentacene-poly(α-methyl styrene) blends for improving performance of organic thin film transistors journal May 2016
Self-assembly diketopyrrolopyrrole-based materials and polymer blend with enhanced crystal alignment and property for organic field-effect transistors journal February 2019
Characterization and modeling of TIPS-pentacene-poly(3-hexyl) thiophene blend organic thin film transistor journal December 2013
Poly(3-hexylthiophene): TIPS-pentacene blends aiming transistor applications journal June 2016
Conjugated Polymer-Mediated Polymorphism of a High Performance, Small-Molecule Organic Semiconductor with Tuned Intermolecular Interactions, Enhanced Long-Range Order, and Charge Transport journal October 2013
Functionalized Pentacene:  Improved Electronic Properties from Control of Solid-State Order journal September 2001
The Use of Polymer Heteronuclei for Crystalline Polymorph Selection journal December 2002
Crystalline Polymorph Selection and Discovery with Polymer Heteronuclei journal April 2005
Structure and Properties of Small Molecule−Polymer Blend Semiconductors for Organic Thin Film Transistors journal September 2008
Solution-Processable Singlet Fission Photovoltaic Devices journal December 2014
Exciton dynamics reveal aggregates with intermolecular order at hidden interfaces in solution-cast organic semiconducting films journal January 2015
Solution-printed organic semiconductor blends exhibiting transport properties on par with single crystals journal November 2015
The influence of side chains on the structures and properties of functionalized pentacenes journal January 2008
Field‐effect mobility of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) journal July 1988
Solution-processable pentacene microcrystal arrays for high performance organic field-effect transistors journal March 2007
High mobility solution processed 6,13-bis(triisopropyl-silylethynyl) pentacene organic thin film transistors journal August 2007
Grain-boundary-limited charge transport in solution-processed 6,13 bis(tri-isopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene thin film transistors journal June 2008
Solution-processed organic thin-film transistors with vertical nanophase separation journal August 2008
Switching phase separation mode by varying the hydrophobicity of polymer additives in solution-processed semiconducting small-molecule/polymer blends journal September 2013
High mobility n -type organic thin-film transistors deposited at room temperature by supersonic molecular beam deposition journal April 2014
Air-stable solution-processed n -channel organic thin film transistors with polymer-enhanced morphology journal May 2015
Temperature gradient approach to grow large, preferentially oriented 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene crystals for organic thin film transistors
  • Asare-Yeboah, Kyeiwaa; Frazier, Rachel M.; Szulczewski, Greg
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 32, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4893438
journal September 2014
Control of Aragonite or Calcite Polymorphism by Mollusk Shell Macromolecules journal January 1996
Morphology and molecular orientation of thin-film bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene journal June 2007
Flexible Organic Thin-film Transistors for Photodetectors journal July 2009
Growth of Long Triisopropylsilylethynyl Pentacene (TIPS-PEN) Nanofibrils in a Polymer Thin Film During Spin-Coating journal January 2014
Three-dimensional monolithic integration in flexible printed organic transistors journal January 2019
Polymer additive controlled morphology for high performance organic thin film transistors journal January 2019
Anisotropic mobility in large grain size solution processed organic semiconductor thin films journal February 2008
TIPS Pentacene as a Beneficial Interlayer for Organic Photodetectors in Imaging Applications journal April 2018
Review Article: Crystal alignment for high performance organic electronics devices journal July 2019

Similar Records

Polyferrocenylsilane Semicrystalline Polymer Additive for Solution-Processed p-Channel Organic Thin Film Transistors
Journal Article · Tue Jan 26 23:00:00 EST 2021 · Polymers · OSTI ID:1815617

Air-Flow Navigated Crystal Growth for TIPS Pentacene-Based Organic Thin-Film Transistors
Journal Article · Sat Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2011 · Organic Electronics · OSTI ID:1047632

Enhanced Performance Consistency in Nanoparticle/TIPS Pentacene-Based Organic Thin Film Transistors
Journal Article · Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2010 · Advanced Functional Materials · OSTI ID:1038466