A thermally activated and highly miscible dopant for n-type organic thermoelectrics

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 3292 - 10
• Main Authors: Yang, Chi-Yuan, Ding, Yi-Fan, Huang, Dazhen, Wang, Jue, Yao, Ze-Fan, Huang, Chun-Xi, Lu, Yang, Un, Hio-Ieng, Zhuang, Fang-Dong, Dou, Jin-Hu, Di, Chong-an, Zhu, Daoben, Wang, Jie-Yu, Lei, Ting, Pei, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.07.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/131; 140/146; 147/135; 147/3; 639/638/298/917; 639/638/403/933; 639/638/455/954; Cationic polymerization; Cations; Chemistry; Design; Dopants; Doping; Electronics industry; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen; Immiscibility; Laboratories; Miscibility; multidisciplinary; Nonuniformity; Organic semiconductors; Performance enhancement; Polymers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Screening; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductors; Stability; Thermoelectric generators; Thermoelectricity; Thickness
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17063-1

N-doping plays an irreplaceable role in controlling the electron concentration of organic semiconductors thus to improve performance of organic semiconductor devices. However, compared with many mature p-doping methods, n-doping of organic semiconductor is still of challenges. In particular, dopant stability/processability, counterion-semiconductor immiscibility and doping induced microstructure non-uniformity have restricted the application of n-doping in high-performance devices. Here, we report a computer-assisted screening approach to rationally design of a triaminomethane-type dopant, which exhibit extremely high stability and strong hydride donating property due to its thermally activated doping mechanism. This triaminomethane derivative shows excellent counterion-semiconductor miscibility (counter cations stay with the polymer side chains), high doping efficiency and uniformity. By using triaminomethane, we realize a record n-type conductivity of up to 21 S cm −1 and power factors as high as 51 μW m −1  K −2 even in films with thicknesses over 10 μm, and we demonstrate the first reported all-polymer thermoelectric generator. Realizing efficient n-doping in organic thermoelectrics remains a challenge due to dopant-semiconductor immiscibility, poor dopant stability and low doping efficiency. Here, the authors use computer-assisted screening to develop n-dopants for thermoelectric polymers that show record power factors.