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Title: Structural Effects of Gating Poly(3-hexylthiophene) through an Ionic Liquid

Journal Article · · Advanced Functional Materials
 [1];  [1]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Materials Science and Engineering

Ionic liquids are increasingly employed as dielectrics to generate high charge densities and enable low-voltage operation with organic semiconductors. But, effects on structure and morphology of the active material are not fully known, particularly for permeable semiconductors such as conjugated polymers, in which ions from the ionic liquid can enter and electrochemically dope the semicrystalline film. In order to understand when ions enter, where they go, and how they affect the film, thin films of the archetypal semiconducting polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene), are electrochemically doped with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, the archetypal ionic liquid. High-resolution, ex situ X-ray diffraction measurements and complete pole figures reveal changes with applied voltage, cycling, and frequency in lattice spacing, crystallite orientation, and crystallinity in the bulk and at the buried interface. Dopant ions penetrate the film and enter the crystallites at sufficiently high voltages and low frequencies. Upon infiltrating crystallites, ions permanently expand lamellar stacking and contract pi-stacking. Cycling amplifies these effects, but higher frequencies mitigate the expansion of bulk crystallites as ions are hindered from entering crystallites. Furthermore, this mechanistic understanding of the structural effects of ion penetration will help develop models of the frequency and voltage impedance response of electrochemically doped conjugated polymers and advance electronic applications.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1390724
Journal Information:
Advanced Functional Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Functional Materials Journal Issue: 32 Vol. 27; ISSN 1616-301X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (11)

X-Ray Scattering Reveals Ion-Induced Microstructural Changes During Electrochemical Gating of Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) journal September 2018
Role of the Anion on the Transport and Structure of Organic Mixed Conductors journal December 2018
Fully Printed Organic Electrochemical Transistors from Green Solvents journal September 2019
Complementary Logic Circuits Based on High-Performance n-Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors journal January 2018
Balancing Charge Storage and Mobility in an Oligo(Ether) Functionalized Dioxythiophene Copolymer for Organic‐ and Aqueous‐ Based Electrochemical Devices and Transistors journal August 2018
Solvent Engineering for High‐Performance n‐Type Organic Electrochemical Transistors journal June 2019
Conductive, Solution‐Processed Dioxythiophene Copolymers for Thermoelectric and Transparent Electrode Applications journal May 2019
Molecular Doping of a High Mobility Diketopyrrolopyrrole–Dithienylthieno[3,2- b ]thiophene Donor–Acceptor Copolymer with F6TCNNQ journal January 2017
Organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors journal August 2019
Efficient molecular doping of polymeric semiconductors driven by anion exchange journal August 2019
Thermoelectric properties of a semicrystalline polymer doped beyond the insulator-to-metal transition by electrolyte gating journal February 2020

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