Unification of trap-limited electron transport in semiconducting polymers

H. T. Nicolai; M. Kuik; G. A.H. Wetzelaer; B. De Boer; C. Campbell; C. Risko; J. L. Brédas; P. W.M. Blom

doi:10.1038/nmat3384

Unification of trap-limited electron transport in semiconducting polymers

H. T. Nicolai, M. Kuik, G. A.H. Wetzelaer, B. De Boer, C. Campbell, C. Risko, J. L. Brédas, P. W.M. Blom

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

411 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electron transport in semiconducting polymers is usually inferior to hole transport, which is ascribed to charge trapping on isolated defect sites situated within the energy bandgap. However, a general understanding of the origin of these omnipresent charge traps, as well as their energetic position, distribution and concentration, is lacking. Here we investigate electron transport in a wide range of semiconducting polymers by current-voltage measurements of single-carrier devices. We observe for this materials class that electron transport is limited by traps that exhibit a Gaussian energy distribution in the bandgap. Remarkably, the electron-trap distribution is identical for all polymers considered: the number of traps amounts to 3 × 10²³ traps per m³ centred at an energy of ∼3.6 eV below the vacuum level, with a typical distribution width of ∼0.1 eV. This indicates that the electron traps have a common origin that, we suggest, is most likely related to hydrated oxygen complexes. A consequence of this finding is that the trap-limited electron current can be predicted for any polymer.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	882-887
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Materials
Volume	11
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3384
State	Published - Oct 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank M. Lenes, Y. Zhang, M. Mandoc and M. Lu for their contributions to this work and J. Harkema for technical support. The work at the University of Groningen was supported by the European Commission under contract FP7-13708 (AEVIOM). The work at Georgia Tech was supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number DMR-0819885.

Funding

The authors thank M. Lenes, Y. Zhang, M. Mandoc and M. Lu for their contributions to this work and J. Harkema for technical support. The work at the University of Groningen was supported by the European Commission under contract FP7-13708 (AEVIOM). The work at Georgia Tech was supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number DMR-0819885.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation (NSF)	DMR-0819885
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University
European Commission	FP7-13708

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering

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abstract = "Electron transport in semiconducting polymers is usually inferior to hole transport, which is ascribed to charge trapping on isolated defect sites situated within the energy bandgap. However, a general understanding of the origin of these omnipresent charge traps, as well as their energetic position, distribution and concentration, is lacking. Here we investigate electron transport in a wide range of semiconducting polymers by current-voltage measurements of single-carrier devices. We observe for this materials class that electron transport is limited by traps that exhibit a Gaussian energy distribution in the bandgap. Remarkably, the electron-trap distribution is identical for all polymers considered: the number of traps amounts to 3 × 1023 traps per m3 centred at an energy of ∼3.6 eV below the vacuum level, with a typical distribution width of ∼0.1 eV. This indicates that the electron traps have a common origin that, we suggest, is most likely related to hydrated oxygen complexes. A consequence of this finding is that the trap-limited electron current can be predicted for any polymer.",

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AU - Campbell, C.

AU - Risko, C.

AU - Brédas, J. L.

AU - Blom, P. W.M.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank M. Lenes, Y. Zhang, M. Mandoc and M. Lu for their contributions to this work and J. Harkema for technical support. The work at the University of Groningen was supported by the European Commission under contract FP7-13708 (AEVIOM). The work at Georgia Tech was supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number DMR-0819885.

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N2 - Electron transport in semiconducting polymers is usually inferior to hole transport, which is ascribed to charge trapping on isolated defect sites situated within the energy bandgap. However, a general understanding of the origin of these omnipresent charge traps, as well as their energetic position, distribution and concentration, is lacking. Here we investigate electron transport in a wide range of semiconducting polymers by current-voltage measurements of single-carrier devices. We observe for this materials class that electron transport is limited by traps that exhibit a Gaussian energy distribution in the bandgap. Remarkably, the electron-trap distribution is identical for all polymers considered: the number of traps amounts to 3 × 1023 traps per m3 centred at an energy of ∼3.6 eV below the vacuum level, with a typical distribution width of ∼0.1 eV. This indicates that the electron traps have a common origin that, we suggest, is most likely related to hydrated oxygen complexes. A consequence of this finding is that the trap-limited electron current can be predicted for any polymer.

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Unification of trap-limited electron transport in semiconducting polymers

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