High electrical conductivity and carrier mobility in oCVD PEDOT thin films by engineered crystallization and acid treatment

Wang, Xiaoxue; Zhang, Xu; Sun, Lei; Lee, Dongwook; Lee, Sunghwan; Wang, Minghui; Zhao, Junjie; Shao-Horn, Yang; Dincă, Mircea; Palacios, Tomás; Gleason, Karen K.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat5780

Title: High electrical conductivity and carrier mobility in oCVD PEDOT thin films by engineered crystallization and acid treatment

Journal Article · Fri Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat5780· OSTI ID:1499938

^[1]; Zhang, Xu ^[1];

^[1]; Lee, Dongwook ^[1]; Lee, Sunghwan ^[2];

^[1];

^[1]; Palacios, Tomás ^[1]; Gleason, Karen K. ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Baylor Univ., Waco, TX (United States)

Air-stable, lightweight, and electrically conductive polymers are highly desired as the electrodes for next-generation electronic devices. However, the low electrical conductivity and low carrier mobility of polymers are the key bottlenecks that limit their adoption. We demonstrate that the key to addressing these limitations is to molecularly engineer the crystallization and morphology of polymers. We use oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD) and hydrobromic acid treatment as an effective tool to achieve such engineering for conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). We demonstrate PEDOT thin films with a record-high electrical conductivity of 6259 S/cm and a remarkably high carrier mobility of 18.45 cm²V^-1s^-1by inducing a crystallite-configuration transition using oCVD. Subsequent theoretical modeling reveals a metallic nature and an effective reduction of the carrier transport energy barrier between crystallized domains in these thin films. To validate this metallic nature, we successfully fabricate PEDOT-Si Schottky diode arrays operating at 13.56 MHz for radio frequency identification (RFID) readers, demonstrating wafer-scale fabrication compatible with conventional complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The oCVD PEDOT thin films with ultrahigh electrical conductivity and high carrier mobility show great promise for novel high-speed organic electronics with low energy consumption and better charge carrier transport.

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Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001088; SC0001299

OSTI ID:: 1499938

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 9; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 123 works

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