Tunability of mobility and conductivity over large ranges in poly(3,3′′′-didodecylquaterthiophene)/insulating polymer composites

J. Sun, B. J. Jung, T. Lee, L. Berger, J. Huang, Y. Liu, D. H. Reich, H. E. Katz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Semiconducting polymers are currently being considered as active layers in field-effect transistors, in which high charge carrier mobility and low off conductivity are important. For other applications, such as certain spintronic mechanisms, the opposite characteristics are desirable. Blending such polymers with insulating polymers would be expected to lower the mobility. In this paper, we report that the use of hydrocarbon polymers such as polystyrene as insulators generally raises the mobility when the semiconducting polymer is poly(bisdodecylquaterthiophene). A high mobility value of nearly 0.1 cm 2/V·s was obtained for an optimal blend. While this is counterintuitive, it is consistent with a few other recent reports. In order to lower the mobility significantly, a much more polar and irregular blending agent is needed. The further addition of tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane as a dopant gave a rare low mobility/high conductivity combination of properties, with a charge carrier density on the order of 1019 cm-3. Thus, mobility and conductivity were tuned somewhat independently over 3 and 4 orders of magnitude, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)412-419
Number of pages8
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume1
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 25 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • PQT-12
  • conductivity
  • mobility
  • polymer blend
  • transistor

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