Photo- and electroluminescence of ambipolar, high-mobility, donor-acceptor polymers

AbstractDonor-acceptor polymers with narrow bandgaps are promising materials for bulk heterojunction solar cells and high-mobility field-effect transistors. They also emit light in the near-infrared. Here we investigate and compare the photoluminescence and electroluminescence properties of different narrow bandgap (<1.5 eV) donor-acceptor polymers with diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP), isoindigo (IGT) and benzodipyrrolidone (BPT) cores, respectively. All of them show near-infrared photoluminescence quantum yields of 0.03–0.09% that decrease with decreasing bandgap. Bottom-contact/top-gate field-effect transistors show ambipolar charge transport with hole and electron mobilities between 0.02 and 0.7 cm2 V−1 s−1 and near-infrared electroluminescence. Their external quantum efficiencies reach up to 0.001%. The effect of polaron quenching and other reasons for the low electroluminescence efficiency of these high mobility polymers are investigated

Spray-coatable ionogels based on silane-ionic liquids for low voltage, flexible, electrolyte-gated organic transistors

We introduce a new type of silane-based ionogels that are produced by gelation of the ionic liquid 3-methyl-1-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([(EtO)3SiPMIM][TFSI]) with tetramethylorthosilane and formic acid. In the obtained ionogels the cations are involved in the network formation while the anions can move freely. The ionogels show advantageous properties for application in flexible electronics, such as low modulus, solution processability and high specific capacitance. Spray-coated ionogels were used as high capacitance gate dielectrics for organic (poly[3-hexylthiophene], P3HT) electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs) that operated at very low voltages (<2 V) with high on/off ratios in air over weeks. Devices fabricated on polymer foil remained functional during repeated bending cycles with strains up to 2.3%

Understanding Charge Transport in Mixed Networks of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes

The ability to select and enrich semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) with high purity has led to a fast rise of solution-processed nanotube network field-effect transistors (FETs) with high carrier mobilities and on/off current ratios. However, it remains an open question whether it is best to use a network of only one nanotube species (monochiral) or whether a mix of purely semiconducting nanotubes but with different bandgaps is sufficient for high performance FETs. For a range of different polymer-sorted semiconducting SWNT networks, we demonstrate that a very small amount of narrow bandgap nanotubes within a dense network of large bandgap nanotubes can dominate the transport and thus severely limit on-currents and effective carrier mobility. Using, gate-voltage dependent electroluminescence, we spatially and spectrally reveal preferential charge transport:that toes not depend on nominal network density but on the energy level distribution within the network and carrier density. On the basis of these results, we outline rational guidelines for the use of mixed SWNT networks to obtain high performance FETs while reducing the cost for purification

Spray-coatable ionogels based on silane-ionic liquids for low voltage, flexible, electrolyte-gated organic transistors

We introduce a new type of silane-based ionogels that are produced by gelation of the ionic liquid 3-methyl-1-(3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl)-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([(EtO)3SiPMIM][TFSI]) with tetramethylorthosilane and formic acid. In the obtained ionogels the cations are involved in the network formation while the anions can move freely. The ionogels show advantageous properties for application in flexible electronics, such as low modulus, solution processability and high specific capacitance. Spray-coated ionogels were used as high capacitance gate dielectrics for organic (poly[3-hexylthiophene], P3HT) electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs) that operated at very low voltages (<2 V) with high on/off ratios in air over weeks. Devices fabricated on polymer foil remained functional during repeated bending cycles with strains up to 2.3%