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Title: Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors

Abstract

Chemical doping of organic semiconductors using molecular dopants plays a key role in the fabrication of efficient organic electronic devices. While a variety of stable molecular p-dopants have been developed and successfully deployed in devices in the past decade, air-stable molecular n-dopants suitable for materials with low electron affinity are still elusive. In this work we demonstrate that photo-activation of a cleavable air-stable dimeric dopant can result in kinetically stable and efficient n-doping of host semiconductors, whose reduction potentials are beyond the thermodynamic reach of the dimer’s effective reducing strength. Electron-transport layers doped in this manner are used to fabricate high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes. This strategy thus enables a new paradigm for using air-stable molecular dopants to improve conductivity in, and provide ohmic contacts to, organic semiconductors with very low electron affinity.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  2. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), (Germany). German Research Centre for Materials and Energy; Humboldt Univ. of Berlin (Germany)
  3. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1595457
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012458; EE0006672; DMR-1305247; DMR-1506097
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 16; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Springer Nature - Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Lin, Xin, Wegner, Berthold, Lee, Kyung Min, Fusella, Michael A., Zhang, Fengyu, Moudgil, Karttikay, Rand, Barry P., Barlow, Stephen, Marder, Seth R., Koch, Norbert, and Kahn, Antoine. Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1038/nmat5027.
Lin, Xin, Wegner, Berthold, Lee, Kyung Min, Fusella, Michael A., Zhang, Fengyu, Moudgil, Karttikay, Rand, Barry P., Barlow, Stephen, Marder, Seth R., Koch, Norbert, & Kahn, Antoine. Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat5027
Lin, Xin, Wegner, Berthold, Lee, Kyung Min, Fusella, Michael A., Zhang, Fengyu, Moudgil, Karttikay, Rand, Barry P., Barlow, Stephen, Marder, Seth R., Koch, Norbert, and Kahn, Antoine. Mon . "Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat5027. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1595457.
@article{osti_1595457,
title = {Beating the thermodynamic limit with photo-activation of n-doping in organic semiconductors},
author = {Lin, Xin and Wegner, Berthold and Lee, Kyung Min and Fusella, Michael A. and Zhang, Fengyu and Moudgil, Karttikay and Rand, Barry P. and Barlow, Stephen and Marder, Seth R. and Koch, Norbert and Kahn, Antoine},
abstractNote = {Chemical doping of organic semiconductors using molecular dopants plays a key role in the fabrication of efficient organic electronic devices. While a variety of stable molecular p-dopants have been developed and successfully deployed in devices in the past decade, air-stable molecular n-dopants suitable for materials with low electron affinity are still elusive. In this work we demonstrate that photo-activation of a cleavable air-stable dimeric dopant can result in kinetically stable and efficient n-doping of host semiconductors, whose reduction potentials are beyond the thermodynamic reach of the dimer’s effective reducing strength. Electron-transport layers doped in this manner are used to fabricate high-efficiency organic light-emitting diodes. This strategy thus enables a new paradigm for using air-stable molecular dopants to improve conductivity in, and provide ohmic contacts to, organic semiconductors with very low electron affinity.},
doi = {10.1038/nmat5027},
journal = {Nature Materials},
number = 12,
volume = 16,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Mon Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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