Charge Transport Properties of PBFDO at Various Doping Levels: An Electrochemical Control and Hall Effect Characterization Study
N-type polymer poly(benzodifurandione) (PBFDO) has demonstrated record-high conductivity in its highly doped state; however, various applications require optimized rather than maximized doping levels. Herein, we systematically investigate the relationship between doping level and charge transport properties in PBFDO using electrochemical dedoping to precisely control doping states, coupled with Hall effect measurements to directly characterize the carrier concentration and mobility. During the dedoping process, both carrier concentration and mobility simultaneously decrease from 2.03E22 to 7.85E21 cm<sup>-3</sup> and from 0.40 to 0.16 cm<sup>2</sup> V<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>, respectively, with conductivity reducing from 1286 to 206 S cm<sup>-1</sup>. Spectroelectrochemical analysis reveals characteristic absorption changes during dedoping, while EPR analysis revealed a transition from polaron pairs to single polarons during dedoping. GIWAXS further demonstrated that dedoping led to an increased interlayer spacing and structural disorder, consistent with a reduced mobility. Unlike conventional conjugated polymers, PBFDO's unique behavior derives from its unique in situ n-doping process and the incorporation of protons acting as counter cations. This study provides critical insights for tailoring PBFDO's electronic properties across different doping regimes for diverse applications.
Authors
- Xiandong He
- Hanlin Gan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9674-0334)
- Min Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7494-3584)
- Wei Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9167-4008)
- Shaohua Tong
- Yuguang Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0373-5873)
- Qinglin Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2211-4397)
- Bohan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5862-3548)
Institutions
- Key Laboratory of Guangdong Province (CN)
- Advanced Materials and Devices (United States) (US)
- State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices
- South China University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
- Published
- 2025-06-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5c01300
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Conducting polymers and applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.43
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices
- Guangzhou Science and Technology Program key projects
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates, South China University of Technology