Research HighlightsOrganic semiconductors: Towards a new dynamic understanding
06/26/2023
Molecular dynamic disorder may help future organic semiconductor design
Dr. Takimiya and the cutting-edge equipment in his laboratory
A new trend in organic semiconductor (OSC) research is challenging the old assumption that charge transfers occur within static molecular lattices.
Recent studies have shown that, even at low temperatures, many OSCs exhibit a high degree of molecular motion. This type of dynamic disorder can locally affect charge transfers, and globally affect the materials electronic properties, questioning how high-performance OSCs should be designed.
A 2022 article by Takimiya et al. from AIMR exemplified this trend. By measuring the carrier mobilities using single-crystal field-effect transistors (SC-FETs), and by simulating the dynamic disorders using the band-like model of two dinaphthothienothiophene (DNTT) regioisomers, the authors found that the transport properties of OSCs are correlated with their susceptibilities to molecular motions1.
“Using traditional approaches—such as thin-film FETs and the static hopping model—we could not distinguish the two DNTTs either in carrier mobilities, or in dynamic disorders,” says Takimiya. “Our results not only support the new dynamic picture, but also suggest the use of dynamic-disorder simulations as a complementary tool for isolating and designing the next high-performance OSCs.”
The AIMR team is now developing a crystal-structure simulation method that can interrogate solid-state properties such as the dynamic disorder using only on the molecular structure of a target OSC.
(Author: Patrick Han)
References
- Takimiya, K., Bulgarevich, K., Horiguchi, S., Sato, A. & Kawabata, K. Bandlike versus temperature-independent carrier transport in isomeric diphenyldinaphtho[2,3‑b:2′,3′‑f ]thieno[3,2‑b]thiophenes. ACS Materials Letters 4, 675-81 (2022). | article
This research highlight has been approved by the authors of the original article and all information and data contained within has been provided by said authors.
