journal article·2021-09

Adduct-based p-doping of organic semiconductors

Nobuya Sakai, Ross Warren, Fengyu Zhang, Simantini Nayak, Junliang Liu, Sameer V. Kesava, Yen-Hung Lin, Himansu S. Biswal, Xin Lin, Chris Grovenor, Tadas Malinauskas, Aniruddha Basu, Thomas D. Anthopoulos, Vytautas Getautis, Antoine Kahn, Moritz Riede, Pabitra K. Nayak, Henry J. Snaith

Nature Materials· Volume 20· Issue 9
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Abstract

Electronic doping of organic semiconductors is essential for their usage in highly efficient optoelectronic devices. Although molecular and metal complex-based dopants have already enabled significant progress of devices based on organic semiconductors, there remains a need for clean, efficient and low-cost dopants if a widespread transition towards larger-area organic electronic devices is to occur. Here we report dimethyl sulfoxide adducts as p-dopants that fulfil these conditions for a range of organic semiconductors. These adduct-based dopants are compatible with both solution and vapour-phase processing. We explore the doping mechanism and use the knowledge we gain to 'decouple' the dopants from the choice of counterion. We demonstrate that asymmetric p-doping is possible using solution processing routes, and demonstrate its use in metal halide perovskite solar cells, organic thin-film transistors and organic light-emitting diodes, which showcases the versatility of this doping approach.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Conducting polymers and applications · Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research

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