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

• Published in: Nature materials Vol. 19; no. 7; pp. 738 - 744
• Main Authors: Xu, Kai, Sun, Hengda, Ruoko, Tero-Petri, Wang, Gang, Kroon, Renee, Kolhe, Nagesh B., Puttisong, Yuttapoom, Liu, Xianjie, Fazzi, Daniele, Shibata, Koki, Yang, Chi-Yuan, Sun, Ning, Persson, Gustav, Yankovich, Andrew B., Olsson, Eva, Yoshida, Hiroyuki, Chen, Weimin M., Fahlman, Mats, Kemerink, Martijn, Jenekhe, Samson A., Müller, Christian, Berggren, Magnus, Fabiano, Simone
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.07.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/923/1028; 639/638/298/917; 639/638/440/947; 639/638/455/954; Affinity; Bilayers; Biomaterials; Charge transfer; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Dimensional stability; Dopants; Doping; Electrical resistivity; Electrochemistry; Electron affinity; Electron transfer; Electronic devices; Electrons; Heterojunctions; Ionization; Materials Science; Monolayers; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Organic semiconductors; Polymers; Semiconductors; Sublimation; Thermal stability
• ISSN: 1476-1122; 1476-4660; 1476-4660
• DOI: 10.1038/s41563-020-0618-7

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 ∼10 13  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. Doping through spontaneous electron transfer between donor and acceptor polymers is obtained by selecting organic semiconductors with suitable electron affinity and ionization energy, achieving high conductivity in blends and bilayer configuration.