Small-molecule ambipolar transistors

Ambipolar transistor properties have been observed in various small-molecule materials. Since a small energy gap is necessary, many types of molecular designs including extended π-skeletons as well as the incorporation of donor and acceptor units have been attempted. In addition to the energy levels, an inert passivation layer is important to observe ambipolar transistor properties. Ambipolar transport has been observed in extraordinary π-electron systems such as antiaromatic compounds, biradicals, radicals, metal complexes, and hydrogen-bonded materials. Several donor/acceptor cocrystals show ambipolar transport as well.

Growth direction dependent separate-channel charge transport in the organic weak charge-transfer co-crystal of anthracene-DTTCNQ

Co-crystallization is an efficient way of molecular crystal engineering to tune the electronic properties of organic semiconductors. In this work, we synthesized anthracene-4,8-bis(dicyanomethylene)4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']-dithiophene (DTTCNQ) single crystals as a template to study the crystal growth direction dependent charge transport properties and attempted to elucidate the mechanism by proposing a separate-channel charge transport model. Single-crystal anthracene-DTTCNQ field-effect transistors showed that ambipolar transport properties could be observed in all crystal growth directions. Furthermore, upon changing the measured crystal directions, the electronic properties experienced a weak change from n-type dominated ambipolar, balanced ambipolar, to p-type dominated ambipolar properties. The theoretical calculations at density functional theory (DFT) and higher theory levels suggested that the anthracene-DTTCNQ co-crystal motif was a weak charge-transfer complex, in line with the experiment. Furthermore, the detailed theoretical analysis also indicated that electron or hole transport properties originated from separated channels formed by DTTCNQ or anthracene molecules. We thus proposed a novel separate-channel transport mechanism to support additional theoretical analysis and calculations. The joint experimental and theoretical efforts in this work suggest that the engineering of co-crystallization of weak charge-transfer complexes can be a practical approach for achieving tuneable ambipolar charge transport properties by the rational choice of co-crystal formers.

Highly Stable Supramolecular Donor-Acceptor Complexes Involving a Bis(18-Crown-6)azobenzene as Weak Donor: Structure-Property Relationships

The physicochemical properties of highly stable supramolecular donor-acceptor (D-A) complexes of a bis(18-crown-6)azobenzene (weak π-donor) with a series of bis(ammonioalkyl) derivatives of viologen-like molecules (π-acceptors) in acetonitrile were studied using cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The crystalline structures of the bis(crown)azobenzene and its complex with a bis(ammoniopropyl) derivative of 2,7-diazapyrene were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. In solution, all of the supramolecular D-A complexes studied have a pseudocyclic structure owing to ditopic coordination of the ammonium groups of the acceptor to the crown ether moieties of the donor. These complexes show somewhat lower stability as compared with the previously studied complexes of the related derivative of stilbene (strong π-donor), which is explained by the relatively weak intermolecular charge-transfer (CT) interactions. Time-dependent DFT calculations predict that the low-energy CT transition in the D-A complex of the bis(crown)azobenzene with a bis(ammoniopropyl) derivative of 4,4'-bipyridine lies between the local ππ* and nπ* transitions of the azobenzene. The absorption band associated with the CT transition is indiscernible in the spectrum since it is overlapped with broad and more intense ππ* and nπ* bands. It was found that the E → Z photoisomerization quantum yield of the bis(crown)azobenzene decreases by almost an order of magnitude upon the complexation with the 4,4'-bipyridine derivative. This effect was tentatively attributed to the intermolecular electron transfer that occurs in the ¹ππ* excited state of the azobenzene and competes with the ¹ππ* → ¹ nπ* internal conversion.

Transistor properties of salen-type metal complexes

Schiff base complexes derived from salicylaldehyde and ethylene-, propylene-, and trans-1,2-cyclohexane-diamines exhibit p-channel transistor properties. The Cu complexes are open-shell compounds, but the oxidation and the hole transport occur at the highest occupied molecular orbital, where the singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) does not participate in conduction. Although Ni complexes tend to show larger mobilities than Cu complexes owing to the molecular planarity, the presence of SOMO is not harmful to the transistor properties.

Schiff base complexes exhibit p-channel transistor properties irrespective of metal atoms because the SOMO does not participate in the conduction.

Charge-transfer complexes of sulfur-rich acceptors derived from birhodanines

The title acceptors form charge-transfer complexes with mixed stacks, whose transistors are affected by the S–S interaction between the acceptors.

Organic metal engineering for enhanced field-effect transistor performance

The use of charge transfer salts in OFETs offers unique possibilities for enhancing the device performance.

Laterally-stacked, solution-processed organic microcrystal with ambipolar charge transport behavior

We report the formation of laterally stacked ambipolar crystal wire for high-mobility organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), along with a simple logic circuit through a solution process. A soluble pentacene derivative, 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (Tips-pentacene), and N,N'-dioctyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide (PTCDI-C8) were used as p-type and n-type organic semiconductors, respectively. The laterally stacked ambipolar crystal wire is made up of Tips-pentacene and PTCDI-C8 crystals in a structure of Tips-pentacene/PTCDI-C8/Tips-pentacene (TPT). The inner part of the crystal is made up of PTCDI-C8, and Tips-pentacene is present on both sides. These TPT crystals exhibit typical ambipolar charge transport behavior in organic electronic devices, which show very balanced hole and electron mobility as high as 0.23 cm(2)/V·s and 0.13 cm(2)/V·s, respectively. Static and dynamic operational stability of the device is investigated by measuring the device performance as a function of storage time and applying voltage pulse, respectively, and it shows good air stability. In addition, a simple logic circuit based on the TPT crystal wire has been fabricated, and the static and dynamic performance has been evaluated. The results indicate that the TPT crystals are potentially useful for miniaturized organic electronic devices.

Charge-transfer complex crystal based on extended-π-conjugated acceptor and sulfur-bridged annulene: charge-transfer interaction and remarkable high ambipolar transport characteristics

A single crystal of a novel mixed-stack donor-acceptor complex formed by a tetracyanoquinodimethane derivative with an extended π-conjugated system and a sulfur-bridged annulene displays the highest ambipolar transport behavior among donor-acceptor complexes reported with electron and hole mobilities reaching up to 0.24 and 0.77 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) , respectively.