Charge generation efficiency of electrically doped organic semiconductors

초록

Organic semiconductors (OSCs) have been a significant focus of research for electronic devices over the years exclusively due to their superior mechanical and optical properties as opposed to conventional inorganic semiconductors (ISCs) such as silicon or germanium. These unique materials have smoothened the path for developing extremely light-weight and ultrathin electronic devices with built-in flexibility and transparency for a considerably low cost. However, the commercial application of these organic materials is limited by their inferior electrical conductivity and charge carrier mobility compared with inorganic counterparts. This review article presents an overview of the works published on how to control and adjust the electrical conductivity of OSCs, focusing on electrical doping. The main point of this review is related to the principles and fundamental mechanisms of charge generation efficiency (CGE) in OSCs, which are significantly different from those of ISCs. The reported CGE of OSCs, defined as the ratio of the generated charge carriers to the dopants, is found to be in the range of a few percent and is significantly small compared with the ISCs. The origin of this lies in the lower dissociation rate of the charge transfer complexes (CTCs) formed between the tightly bound ionized dopants and generated charges. The CTCs induce localized electron-hole pairs, and the dissociation of such CTCs into free charge carriers requires large activation energies to overcome the strong Coulombic forces exerted on the generated charges by the dopant ions. Therefore, high doping concentrations are required to generate a large number of free charge carriers in doped OSC films. In this review, the CGE of OSCs is discussed in detail from the point of view of CTC formation and charge separation efficiencies. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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