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Schweicher G, Garbay G, Jouclas R, Vibert F, Devaux F, Geerts YH. Molecular Semiconductors for Logic Operations: Dead-End or Bright Future? ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2020; 32:e1905909. [PMID: 31965662 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201905909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The field of organic electronics has been prolific in the last couple of years, leading to the design and synthesis of several molecular semiconductors presenting a mobility in excess of 10 cm2 V-1 s-1 . However, it is also started to recently falter, as a result of doubtful mobility extractions and reduced industrial interest. This critical review addresses the community of chemists and materials scientists to share with it a critical analysis of the best performing molecular semiconductors and of the inherent charge transport physics that takes place in them. The goal is to inspire chemists and materials scientists and to give them hope that the field of molecular semiconductors for logic operations is not engaged into a dead end. To the contrary, it offers plenty of research opportunities in materials chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Schweicher
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
- Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Guillaume Garbay
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Rémy Jouclas
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - François Vibert
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Félix Devaux
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
| | - Yves H Geerts
- Laboratoire de chimie des polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Boulevard du Triomphe, Brussels, 1050, Belgium
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Xie X, Santana-Bonilla A, Troisi A. Nonlocal Electron-Phonon Coupling in Prototypical Molecular Semiconductors from First Principles. J Chem Theory Comput 2018; 14:3752-3762. [PMID: 29851487 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.8b00235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
A substantial amount of evidence indicates a relevant role played by the nonlocal electron-phonon couplings in the mechanism of charge transport in organic semiconductors. In this work, we compute the nonlocal electron-phonon coupling for the prototypical molecular semiconductors rubrene and tetracene using the phonon modes obtained from ab initio methods. We do not make the rigid molecular approximation allowing a mixing of intra- and intermolecular modes, and we use a supercell approach to sample the momentum space. Indeed, we find that some low-frequency intramolecular modes are mixed with the rigid-molecule translations and rotations in the modes with the strongest electron-phonon coupling. To rationalize the results we propose a convenient decomposition of the delocalized lattice modes into molecular-based modes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Xie
- Department of Chemistry , University of Liverpool , Liverpool L69 3BX , U.K.,School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023 , China
| | | | - Alessandro Troisi
- Department of Chemistry , University of Liverpool , Liverpool L69 3BX , U.K
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Fratini S, Ciuchi S, Mayou D, de Laissardière GT, Troisi A. A map of high-mobility molecular semiconductors. NATURE MATERIALS 2017; 16:998-1002. [PMID: 28892051 DOI: 10.1038/nmat4970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2016] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The charge mobility of molecular semiconductors is limited by the large fluctuation of intermolecular transfer integrals, often referred to as off-diagonal dynamic disorder, which causes transient localization of the carriers' eigenstates. Using a recently developed theoretical framework, we show here that the electronic structure of the molecular crystals determines its sensitivity to intermolecular fluctuations. We build a map of the transient localization lengths of high-mobility molecular semiconductors to identify what patterns of nearest-neighbour transfer integrals in the two-dimensional (2D) high-mobility plane protect the semiconductor from the effect of dynamic disorder and yield larger mobility. Such a map helps rationalizing the transport properties of the whole family of molecular semiconductors and is also used to demonstrate why common textbook approaches fail in describing this important class of materials. These results can be used to rapidly screen many compounds and design new ones with optimal transport characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Fratini
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble, France
- CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble, France
| | - S Ciuchi
- Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy
- CNR Institute for Complex Systems, Via dei Taurini 19, 00185 Roma, Italy
| | - D Mayou
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble, France
- CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble, France
| | - G Trambly de Laissardière
- Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation, CNRS, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, F-95302 Cergy-Pontoise, France
| | - A Troisi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
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