Ground-state electron transfer in all-polymer donor-acceptor heterojunctions

Nature Materials
Kai XuSimone Fabiano

Abstract

Doping of organic semiconductors is crucial for the operation of organic (opto)electronic and electrochemical devices. Typically, this is achieved by adding heterogeneous dopant molecules to the polymer bulk, often resulting in poor stability and performance due to dopant sublimation or aggregation. In small-molecule donor-acceptor systems, charge transfer can yield high and stable electrical conductivities, an approach not yet explored in all-conjugated polymer systems. Here, we report ground-state electron transfer in all-polymer donor-acceptor heterojunctions. Combining low-ionization-energy polymers with high-electron-affinity counterparts yields conducting interfaces with resistivity values five to six orders of magnitude lower than the separate single-layer polymers. The large decrease in resistivity originates from two parallel quasi-two-dimensional electron and hole distributions reaching a concentration of ∼1013 cm-2. Furthermore, we transfer the concept to three-dimensional bulk heterojunctions, displaying exceptional thermal stability due to the absence of molecular dopants. Our findings hold promise for electro-active composites of potential use in, for example, thermoelectrics and wearable electronics.

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Citations

Sep 26, 2020·Chemical Society Reviews·Wenrui ZhaoDaoben Zhu
Aug 21, 2020·Nature Materials
Mar 11, 2020·Nature Materials·Bernard Kippelen
Aug 21, 2020·Nature Materials·Xugang Guo, Antonio Facchetti
Nov 19, 2020·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Ariana Villarroel MarquezAmir Pakdel
Apr 23, 2021·Nature Communications·Chi-Yuan YangSimone Fabiano
Apr 30, 2021·Chemistry, an Asian Journal·Jia-Tong Li, Ting Lei
Jun 22, 2021·Accounts of Chemical Research·Yang LuJian Pei
Nov 13, 2020·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Suhao WangSimone Fabiano
Sep 12, 2020·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Zhiming ZhongYong Cao
Oct 1, 2021·Nature Communications·Xinwen YanTing Lei

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
electron paramagnetic resonance
X-ray

Software Mentioned

Labview
UPS
LEIPS
Gaussian16
MATLAB
GIXGUI

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