Effectively modulating thermal activated charge transport in organic semiconductors by precise potential barrier engineering

Yinan Huang, Xue Gong, Yancheng Meng, Zhongwu Wang, Xiaosong Chen, Jie Li, Deyang Ji, Zhongming Wei, Liqiang Li () and Wenping Hu
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Yinan Huang: Tianjin University
Xue Gong: University of Science and Technology of China
Yancheng Meng: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhongwu Wang: Tianjin University
Xiaosong Chen: Tianjin University
Jie Li: Tianjin University
Deyang Ji: Tianjin University
Zhongming Wei: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Liqiang Li: Tianjin University
Wenping Hu: Tianjin University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The temperature dependence of charge transport dramatically affects and even determines the properties and applications of organic semiconductors, but is challenging to effectively modulate. Here, we develop a strategy to circumvent this challenge through precisely tuning the effective height of the potential barrier of the grain boundary (i.e., potential barrier engineering). This strategy shows that the charge transport exhibits strong temperature dependence when effective potential barrier height reaches maximum at a grain size near to twice the Debye length, and that larger or smaller grain sizes both reduce effective potential barrier height, rendering devices relatively thermostable. Significantly, through this strategy a traditional thermo-stable organic semiconductor (dinaphtho[2,3-b:2′,3′-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene, DNTT) achieves a high thermo-sensitivity (relative current change) of 155, which is far larger than what is expected from a standard thermally-activated carrier transport. As demonstrations, we show that thermo-sensitive OFETs perform as highly sensitive temperature sensors.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20209-w

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