Light-triggered regionally controlled n-doping of organic semiconductors.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40437089.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41586-025-09075-y.
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Abstract
Doping is a primary method to modulate the electrical properties of semiconductors, enabling the fabrication of various homojunctions/heterojunctions and complex devices<sup>1-8</sup>. For organic semiconductors (OSCs), the electrical performance has been extensively improved by developing doping methods and dopants<sup>9-13</sup>. However, compared with the state-of-the-art spatial resolution of inorganic semiconductor fabrication processes, OSCs lag far behind, limiting the construction of complex organic electronic devices<sup>5</sup>. Here we present a facile light-triggered doping strategy and develop a series of inactive photoactivable dopants (iPADs) for regionally controlled n-doping of OSCs. By converting iPADs into active dopants through ultraviolet (UV) exposure, controllable doping of various n-type OSCs with high electrical conductivity greater than 30 S cm<sup>-1</sup> has been realized. Using iPADs can substantially improve the performances of OSCs in transistors, logic circuits and thermoelectrics. Also, regionally controlled doping is demonstrated in OSCs with a record resolution down to 1 μm. Overall, our strategy has achieved tunable doping levels in OSCs with high spatial resolution, which is expected to be highly suited for integrated circuits in both roll-to-roll and laboratory-scale environments.