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RESEARCHERS in Sweden have found a way to enable very efficient vertical charge transport in semiconducting polymers, without requiring chemical modification.
Organic electronic devices with vertical charge transport include OPV, OLED, lasers, etc. Improvements in efficiency in this area could lead to trickle-down breakthroughs in these devices.
Conjugated semiconducting polymers (plastic) possess exceptional optical and electronic properties, which make them highly attractive in the production of organic opto-electronic devices.
In particular, polythiophene polymers, such as poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, has strong optical absorbance and ease of processing into a thin film from solution.
In both OPVs and OLEDs, charges must be transported in the out of plane (vertical) direction inside the polymer film.
Until now, the vertical charge carrier mobility of organic semiconductors (the ability of charges to move inside the material), has been too low to produce fast charge transport in electronic devices.
While faster charge transport can occur along the polymer chain backbone, a method to produce controlled chain orientation and high mobility in the vertical direction has remained elusive until now.
The team of chemists and materials scientists, led by Professor David R. Barbero at Umeå University, has found a new method to align chains vertically and to produce efficient transport of electric charges through the chain backbone. This can enhance vertical charge transport by more than 1000 times.
While organic-based devices have traditionally been slower and less efficient than inorganic ones, the breakthrough in vertical charge transport could boost their performance to more closely match that of inorganic devices, without requiring doping.