Addition of the Lewis Acid Zn(C6F5)2 Enables Organic Transistors with a Maximum Hole Mobility in Excess of 20 cm2 V−1 s−1

Alexandra F. Paterson; Leonidas Tsetseris; Ruipeng Li; Aniruddha Basu; Hendrik Faber; Abdul Hamid Emwas; Julianna Panidi; Zhuping Fei; Muhammad R. Niazi; Dalaver H. Anjum; Martin Heeney; Thomas D. Anthopoulos

doi:10.1002/adma.201900871

Addition of the Lewis Acid Zn(C₆F₅)₂ Enables Organic Transistors with a Maximum Hole Mobility in Excess of 20 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹

Alexandra F. Paterson, Leonidas Tsetseris, Ruipeng Li, Aniruddha Basu, Hendrik Faber, Abdul Hamid Emwas, Julianna Panidi, Zhuping Fei, Muhammad R. Niazi, Dalaver H. Anjum, Martin Heeney, Thomas D. Anthopoulos

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

Incorporating the molecular organic Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C₆F₅)₃] into organic semiconductors has shown remarkable promise in recent years for controlling the operating characteristics and performance of various opto/electronic devices, including, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Despite the demonstrated potential, however, to date most of the work has been limited to B(C₆F₅)₃ with the latter serving as the prototypical air-stable molecular Lewis acid system. Herein, the use of bis(pentafluorophenyl)zinc [Zn(C₆F₅)₂] is reported as an alternative Lewis acid additive in high-hole-mobility OTFTs based on small-molecule:polymer blends comprising 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno [3,2-b][1]benzothiophene and indacenodithiophene–benzothiadiazole. Systematic analysis of the materials and device characteristics supports the hypothesis that Zn(C₆F₅)₂ acts simultaneously as a p-dopant and a microstructure modifier. It is proposed that it is the combination of these synergistic effects that leads to OTFTs with a maximum hole mobility value of 21.5 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. The work not only highlights Zn(C₆F₅)₂ as a promising new additive for next-generation optoelectronic devices, but also opens up new avenues in the search for high-mobility organic semiconductors.

Original language	English
Article number	1900871
Journal	Advanced Materials
Volume	31
Issue number	27
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201900871
State	Published - Jul 5 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility— ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized.

Funding Information:
T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility—ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

Lewis acid
carrier mobility
molecular doping
organic semiconductors
organic thin-film transistors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Materials Science (all)
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering

Access to Document

10.1002/adma.201900871

Cite this

Paterson, A. F., Tsetseris, L., Li, R., Basu, A., Faber, H., Emwas, A. H., Panidi, J., Fei, Z., Niazi, M. R., Anjum, D. H., Heeney, M., & Anthopoulos, T. D. (2019). Addition of the Lewis Acid Zn(C₆F₅)₂ Enables Organic Transistors with a Maximum Hole Mobility in Excess of 20 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Advanced Materials, 31(27), Article 1900871. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201900871

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title = "Addition of the Lewis Acid Zn(C6F5)2 Enables Organic Transistors with a Maximum Hole Mobility in Excess of 20 cm2 V−1 s−1",

abstract = "Incorporating the molecular organic Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C6F5)3] into organic semiconductors has shown remarkable promise in recent years for controlling the operating characteristics and performance of various opto/electronic devices, including, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Despite the demonstrated potential, however, to date most of the work has been limited to B(C6F5)3 with the latter serving as the prototypical air-stable molecular Lewis acid system. Herein, the use of bis(pentafluorophenyl)zinc [Zn(C6F5)2] is reported as an alternative Lewis acid additive in high-hole-mobility OTFTs based on small-molecule:polymer blends comprising 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno [3,2-b][1]benzothiophene and indacenodithiophene–benzothiadiazole. Systematic analysis of the materials and device characteristics supports the hypothesis that Zn(C6F5)2 acts simultaneously as a p-dopant and a microstructure modifier. It is proposed that it is the combination of these synergistic effects that leads to OTFTs with a maximum hole mobility value of 21.5 cm2 V−1 s−1. The work not only highlights Zn(C6F5)2 as a promising new additive for next-generation optoelectronic devices, but also opens up new avenues in the search for high-mobility organic semiconductors.",

keywords = "Lewis acid, carrier mobility, molecular doping, organic semiconductors, organic thin-film transistors",

author = "Paterson, {Alexandra F.} and Leonidas Tsetseris and Ruipeng Li and Aniruddha Basu and Hendrik Faber and Emwas, {Abdul Hamid} and Julianna Panidi and Zhuping Fei and Niazi, {Muhammad R.} and Anjum, {Dalaver H.} and Martin Heeney and Anthopoulos, {Thomas D.}",

note = "Funding Information: T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility— ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized. Funding Information: T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility—ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim",

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AU - Tsetseris, Leonidas

AU - Li, Ruipeng

AU - Basu, Aniruddha

AU - Faber, Hendrik

AU - Emwas, Abdul Hamid

AU - Panidi, Julianna

AU - Fei, Zhuping

AU - Niazi, Muhammad R.

AU - Anjum, Dalaver H.

AU - Heeney, Martin

AU - Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

N1 - Funding Information: T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility— ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized. Funding Information: T.D.A., A.F.P., A.B., H.F., and M.R.N. acknowledge the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for financial support. R.L. used CMS beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract No. DE-SC0012704. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility—ARIS—under project STEM. M.H. and J.P. thank EPRSC (EP/L016702/1) and the Royal Society for their support. Note: The presentation of references 8 and 15 was corrected on July 2, 2019, after initial publication online. When first published, the first and last names in these references were reversed, with the last names initialized. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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N2 - Incorporating the molecular organic Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C6F5)3] into organic semiconductors has shown remarkable promise in recent years for controlling the operating characteristics and performance of various opto/electronic devices, including, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Despite the demonstrated potential, however, to date most of the work has been limited to B(C6F5)3 with the latter serving as the prototypical air-stable molecular Lewis acid system. Herein, the use of bis(pentafluorophenyl)zinc [Zn(C6F5)2] is reported as an alternative Lewis acid additive in high-hole-mobility OTFTs based on small-molecule:polymer blends comprising 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno [3,2-b][1]benzothiophene and indacenodithiophene–benzothiadiazole. Systematic analysis of the materials and device characteristics supports the hypothesis that Zn(C6F5)2 acts simultaneously as a p-dopant and a microstructure modifier. It is proposed that it is the combination of these synergistic effects that leads to OTFTs with a maximum hole mobility value of 21.5 cm2 V−1 s−1. The work not only highlights Zn(C6F5)2 as a promising new additive for next-generation optoelectronic devices, but also opens up new avenues in the search for high-mobility organic semiconductors.

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