Shear-aligned large-area organic semiconductor crystals through extended π-π interaction

  • Song Zhang
  • , Felix Talnack
  • , Tanguy Jousselin-Oba
  • , Vinayak Bhat
  • , Yilei Wu
  • , Yusheng Lei
  • , Yoko Tomo
  • , Huaxin Gong
  • , Lukas Michalek
  • , Donglai Zhong
  • , Can Wu
  • , Abderrahim Yassar
  • , Stefan Mannsfeld
  • , Chad Risko
  • , Michel Frigoli
  • , Zhenan Bao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Small molecule-based organic semiconductors are of broad interest in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) due to their potential for high crystallinity and electrical performance. The 2D molecule, TIPS-peri-pentacenopentacene (TIPS-PPP), which is the vertical extension of the 1D TIPS-pentacene (TIPS-PEN) molecule, offers a lower bandgap, higher aromaticity, and an enhanced π-π interaction with neighboring molecules in the solid state when compared to TIPS-PEN. However, an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the molecule structure, solid-state molecular packing, and the electronic properties has not been reported due to poor control over the TIPS-PPP crystallite size. In this work, we successfully engineered highly oriented large-area TIPS-PPP crystals through the solution shear coating technique. Compared with narrow ribbon-like TIPS-PEN crystals, TIPS-PPP crystals can grow centimeters long and over 500 μm wide. TIPS-PPP molecules are less susceptible to forming metastable polymorphs than TIPS-PEN molecules upon fast evaporation. The crystal structure of TIPS-PPP is also thermally stable at 250 °C. Notably, the anisotropic charge carrier mobility of TIPS-PPP crystals is resolved through fabricating bottom-gate top-contact devices, with a hole mobility of 3.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 along the preferred packing direction. Further device optimization using top-gate bottom-contact devices improved the mobility up to 6.5 cm2 V−1 s−1, which is among the highest for pentacene-derivative-based organic semiconductors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8992-9001
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry C
Volume11
Issue number26
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 9 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Funding

F. T. and S. M. acknowledge financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG, MA 3342/6-1), the German Excellence Initiative via EXC 1056 “Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden” (CFAED) and the TU Dresden Graduate Academy. M. F. and A. Y. acknowledge financial support from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR-16-CE07-0024 (GATE). V. B. and C. R. at the University of Kentucky acknowledge funding by the National Science Foundation through award number DMR 1627428. Supercomputing resources were provided by the University of Kentucky Information Technology Department and Center for Computational Sciences (CCS). L. M. acknowledges funding through the Walter Benjamin Fellowship Program by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG 456522816). Y. W. acknowledges financial support from the Office of Naval Research (award N00014-19-1-2453). Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS-2026822. Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

FundersFunder number
CFAED
Graduiertenakademie, Technische Universität Dresden
U.S. Department of Energy EPSCoR
Office of Science Programs
University of Kentucky Information Technology Department and Center for Computational Sciences
Office of Naval Research Naval AcademyECCS-2026822, N00014-19-1-2453
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science ProgramDMR 1627428, 2026822
Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftDFG 456522816, MA 3342/6-1
DOE Basic Energy SciencesDE-AC02-76SF00515
French Agence Nationale de la RechercheANR-16-CE07-0024

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Chemistry
    • Materials Chemistry

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Shear-aligned large-area organic semiconductor crystals through extended π-π interaction'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this