Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor
Abstract
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.
- Authors:
-
- 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)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1265695
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1259668
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; DMR-0706011; DMR-1420013
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Chew, Annabel, Rojas, Geoffrey A., Sini, Gjergji, Haugstad, Greg, Belianinov, Alex, Kalinin, Sergei, Hong, Li, Risko, Chad M., Bredas, Jean-Luc E., Salleo, Alberto, and Frisbie, C. Daniel. Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms10270.
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. Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor. United States. doi:10.1038/ncomms10270.
Chew, Annabel, Rojas, Geoffrey A., Sini, Gjergji, Haugstad, Greg, Belianinov, Alex, Kalinin, Sergei, Hong, Li, Risko, Chad M., Bredas, Jean-Luc E., Salleo, Alberto, and Frisbie, C. Daniel. Mon .
"Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor". United States. doi:10.1038/ncomms10270. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1265695.
@article{osti_1265695,
title = {Strain Effects on the Work Function of an Organic Semiconductor},
author = {Chew, Annabel and Rojas, Geoffrey A. and Sini, Gjergji and Haugstad, Greg and Belianinov, Alex and Kalinin, Sergei and Hong, Li and Risko, Chad M. and Bredas, Jean-Luc E. and Salleo, Alberto and Frisbie, C. Daniel},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms10270},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {2016},
month = {2}
}
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