Molecular doping is essential for optimizing carrier concentration, charge mobility, and energy levels of organic semiconductors (OSCs), thereby enhancing device performance. However, efficient n(electron)-type doping remains challenging, as conventional techniques often fail to achieve high doping efficiency with minimal counterion-induced disorder under mild conditions. Here, we present a catalysed n-doping strategy for OSCs using air-stable, cost-effective, and commercially available soluble organometallic complexes, such as Pt(COD)Cl2, which enable rapid n-dopant activation with just 10 s of annealing at 120 oC. This approach demonstrates excellent generality across diverse OSCs, dopants and catalysts, achieving electrical conductivities exceeding 230 S cm-1 with up to 10-fold improvements over existing catalyst-assisted n-doping methods. Importantly, it mitigates counterion-induced structural disorder in doped OSCs, leading to a high power factor of 175 µW m-1 K-2 and thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.43 at room temperature for catalytically N-DMBI-doped polymer films. This strategy addresses long-standing challenges in n-doping while unlocking new avenues for next-generation organic electronics.
n-doping of organic semiconductors catalysed by organometallic complexes / Gámez-Valenzuela, S., Li, J., Feng, K., Liu, B., Ma, S., Li, Y., Lu, Y., Zhang, X., Li, B., Jeong, S.Y., Wang, H., Woo, H.Y., Wang, H., Motta, A., Guo, X.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 16:1(2025). [10.1038/s41467-025-66052-9]
n-doping of organic semiconductors catalysed by organometallic complexes
Wang, Hong;Motta, Alessandro;
2025
Abstract
Molecular doping is essential for optimizing carrier concentration, charge mobility, and energy levels of organic semiconductors (OSCs), thereby enhancing device performance. However, efficient n(electron)-type doping remains challenging, as conventional techniques often fail to achieve high doping efficiency with minimal counterion-induced disorder under mild conditions. Here, we present a catalysed n-doping strategy for OSCs using air-stable, cost-effective, and commercially available soluble organometallic complexes, such as Pt(COD)Cl2, which enable rapid n-dopant activation with just 10 s of annealing at 120 oC. This approach demonstrates excellent generality across diverse OSCs, dopants and catalysts, achieving electrical conductivities exceeding 230 S cm-1 with up to 10-fold improvements over existing catalyst-assisted n-doping methods. Importantly, it mitigates counterion-induced structural disorder in doped OSCs, leading to a high power factor of 175 µW m-1 K-2 and thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.43 at room temperature for catalytically N-DMBI-doped polymer films. This strategy addresses long-standing challenges in n-doping while unlocking new avenues for next-generation organic electronics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
