On-Demand Catalysed n-Doping of Organic Semiconductors

Marc Antoine Stoeckel, Kui Feng, Chi Yuan Yang, Xianjie Liu, Qifan Li, Tiefeng Liu, Sang Young Jeong, Han Young Woo, Yao Yao, Mats Fahlman, Tobin J. Marks, Sakshi Sharma, Alessandro Motta, Xugang Guo, Simone Fabiano, Antonio Facchetti

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A new approach to control the n-doping reaction of organic semiconductors is reported using surface-functionalized gold nanoparticles (f-AuNPs) with alkylthiols acting as the catalyst only upon mild thermal activation. To demonstrate the versatility of this methodology, the reaction of the n-type dopant precursor N-DMBI-H with several molecular and polymeric semiconductors at different temperatures with/without f-AuNPs, vis-à-vis the unfunctionalized catalyst AuNPs, was investigated by spectroscopic, morphological, charge transport, and kinetic measurements as well as, computationally, the thermodynamic of catalyst activation. The combined experimental and theoretical data demonstrate that while f-AuNPs is inactive at room temperature both in solution and in the solid state, catalyst activation occurs rapidly at mild temperatures (~70 °C) and the doping reaction completes in few seconds affording large electrical conductivities (~10–140 S cm−1). The implementation of this methodology enables the use of semiconductor+dopant+catalyst solutions and will broaden the use of the corresponding n-doped films in opto-electronic devices such as thin-film transistors, electrochemical transistors, solar cells, and thermoelectrics well as guide the design of new catalysts.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202407273
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume63
Issue number33
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024 Aug 12

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Keywords

  • catalysis
  • n-doping
  • organic semiconductor
  • polymer
  • transistor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'On-Demand Catalysed n-Doping of Organic Semiconductors'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this