Abstract
Organic semiconductors and hybrid/organic materials have attracted interest for electronic applications due to their potential for use in low-cost, large-area, flexible electronic devices. Here we will report on recent developments pertaining to n-dopants that could impact the charge injection/collection processes in organic light emitting diodes, organic field effect transistors, and organic photovoltaic and hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite devices. I will highlight the application of n-doping for the development of electron injection layers for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and their use for doping of electron transport materials which result in high conductivities and in some cases good thermoelectric performance. In the case of OLEDs, it will be shown that photoactivation (as illustrated in the cartoon at the right) can lead to stable doping of materials (i.e., the doping induced conductivity remains relatively constant over hundreds of hours) beyond the expected thermodynamic limit, which would be predicted based on an assessment of the effective reduction potential of the n-dopant and the reduction potential of the electron transport material. We will also highlight some of the differences between approaches based upon "dimeric" dopants vs. hydride donor dopants.
* This work relates to the Department of Navy award N00014-20-1-2587 issued by the Office of Naval Research. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. ECCS-2141949 and DMR-2323546, and by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at the NREL. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the US government. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes.
