In this work, we focus on the formation of different kinds of charge carriers such as polarons and bipolarons upon p-type doping (oxidation) of the organic semiconductor poly(3- hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT). We elucidate the cyclic voltammogram during oxidation of this polymer and present spectroscopic changes upon doping in the UV/Vis/near-IR range as well as in the mid-IR range. In the low-oxidation regime, two absorption bands related to sub-gap transitions appear, one in the UV/Vis range and another one in the mid-IR range. The UV/Vis absorption gradually decreases upon further doping while the mid-IR absorption shifts to lower energy. Additionally, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements are performed, showing an increase of the EPR signal up to a certain doping level, which significantly decreases upon further doping. Furthermore, the absorption spectra in the UV/Vis range are analyzed in relation to the morphology (crystalline vs. amorphous) by using theoretical models. Finally, the calculated charge carriers from cyclic voltammogram are linked together with optical transitions as well as with the EPR signals upon p-type doping. We stress that our results indicate the formation of polarons at low doping levels and the existence of bipolarons at high doping levels. The presented spectroscopic data are an experimental evidence of the formation of bipolarons in P3HT.
Organic pigments such as indigos, quinacridones, and phthalocyanines are widely produced industrially as colorants for everyday products as various as cosmetics and printing inks. Herein we introduce a general procedure to transform commercially available insoluble microcrystalline pigment powders into colloidal solutions of variously sized and shaped semiconductor micro- and nanocrystals. The synthesis is based on the transformation of the pigments into soluble dyes by introducing transient protecting groups on the secondary amine moieties, followed by controlled deprotection in solution. Three deprotection methods are demonstrated: thermal cleavage, acid-catalyzed deprotection, and amine-induced deprotection. During these processes, ligands are introduced to afford colloidal stability and to provide dedicated surface functionality and for size and shape control. The resulting micro- and nanocrystals exhibit a wide range of optical absorption and photoluminescence over spectral regions from the visible to the near-infrared. Due to excellent colloidal solubility offered by the ligands, the achieved organic nanocrystals are suitable for solution processing of (opto)electronic devices. As examples, phthalocyanine nanowire transistors as well as quinacridone nanocrystal photodetectors, with photoresponsivity values by far outperforming those of vacuum deposited reference samples, are demonstrated. The high responsivity is enabled by photoinduced charge transfer between the nanocrystals and the directly attached electron-accepting vitamin B2 ligands. The semiconducting nanocrystals described here offer a cheap, nontoxic, and environmentally friendly alternative to inorganic nanocrystals as well as a new paradigm for obtaining organic semiconductor materials from commercial colorants.
Indigo and its derivatives are industrially-important dyes known for centuries. The low solubility of these compounds limits their applications and hinders potential synthetic chemistry using indigo as a building-block. Herein we report attachment of the tert-butoxy carbonyl (tBOC) thermolabile protecting group to indigos, allowing their processing into neat thin films as well as mixed films with a semiconducting polymer. Photoinduced charge transfer is observed to and from these pigments and the polymer.
The front cover artwork is provided by Dr. Christina Enengl, Dr. Sandra Enengl and Dr. Helmut Neugebauer (Johannes Kepler University, Austria), Dr. Marek Havlicek (Czech Metrology Institute, Czech Republic; Johannes Kepler University, Austria), Sandra Pluczyk and Prof. Mieczyslaw Lapkowski (Silesian University of Technology, Poland) as well as Prof. Eitan Ehrenfreund (Technion‐Israel Institute of Technology, Israel). The image illustrates the formation of bipolarons in P3HT at higher doping levels observed by in situ spectroscopic techniques. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/cphc.201600961.
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