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    AB- Versus AA+BB-Suzuki Polycondensation: A Palladium/Tris(tert-butyl)phosphine Catalyst Can Outperform Conventional Catalysts
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Zhang, Kenan; Tkachov, Roman; Ditte, Kristina; Kiriy, Nataliya; Kiriy, Anton; Voit, Brigitte
    A Pd/Pt-Bu3 catalyst having bulky, electron-rich ligands significantly outperforms conventional “step-growth catalysts” Pd(PPh3)4 and Pd(Po-Tol3)3 in the Suzuki polycondensation of the AB-type arylene-based monomers, such as some of the substituted fluorenes, carbazoles, and phenylenes. In the AA+BB polycondensation, Pd/Pt-Bu3 also performs better under homogeneous reaction conditions, in combination with the organic base Et4NOH. The superior performance of Pd/Pt-Bu3 is discussed in terms of its higher reactivity in the oxidative addition step and inherent advantages of the intramolecular catalyst transfer, which is a key step joining catalytic cycles of the AB-polycondensation. These findings are applied to the synthesis of a carbazole-based copolymer designed for the use as a hole conductor in solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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    Ultrasoft and High-Mobility Block Copolymers for Skin-Compatible Electronics
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Ditte, Kristina; Perez, Jonathan; Chae, Soosang; Hambsch, Mike; Al-Hussein, Mahmoud; Komber, Hartmut; Formanek, Peter; Mannsfeld, Stefan C.B.; Fery, Andreas; Kiriy, Anton; Lissel, Franziska
    Polymer semiconductors (PSCs) are an essential component of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), but their potential for stretchable electronics is limited by their brittleness and failure susceptibility upon strain. Herein, a covalent connection of two state-of-the-art polymers—semiconducting poly-diketo-pyrrolopyrrole-thienothiophene (PDPP-TT) and elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)—in a single triblock copolymer (TBC) chain is reported, which enables high charge carrier mobility and low modulus in one system. Three TBCs containing up to 65 wt% PDMS were obtained, and the TBC with 65 wt% PDMS content exhibits mobilities up to 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, in the range of the fully conjugated reference polymer PDPP-TT (0.7 cm2 V−1 s−1). The TBC is ultrasoft with a low elastic modulus (5 MPa) in the range of mammalian tissue. The TBC exhibits an excellent stretchability and extraordinary durability, fully maintaining the initial electric conductivity in a doped state after 1500 cycles to 50% strain. © 2020 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Sequentially Processed P3HT/CN6-CP•−NBu4+ Films: Interfacial or Bulk Doping?
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Karpov, Yevhen; Kiriy, Nataliya; Formanek, Petr; Hoffmann, Cedric; Beryozkina, Tetyana; Hambsch, Mike; Al-Hussein, Mahmoud; Mannsfeld, Stefan C.B.; Büchner, Bernd; Debnath, Bipasha; Bretschneider, Michael; Krupskaya, Yulia; Lissel, Franziska; Kiriy, Anton
    Derivatives of the hexacyano-[3]-radialene anion radical (CN6-CP•−) emerge as a promising new family of p-dopants having a doping strength comparable to that of archetypical dopant 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyano-quinodimethane (F4TCNQ). Here, mixed solution (MxS) and sequential processing (SqP) doping methods are compared by using a model semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the dopant CN6-CP•−NBu4 + (NBu4 + = tetrabutylammonium). MxS films show a moderate yet thickness-independent conductivity of ≈0.1 S cm−1. For the SqP case, the highest conductivity value of ≈6 S cm−1 is achieved for the thinnest (1.5–3 nm) films whereas conductivity drops two orders of magnitudes for 100 times thicker films. These results are explained in terms of an interfacial doping mechanism realized in the SqP films, where only layers close to the P3HT/dopant interface are doped efficiently, whereas internal P3HT layers remain essentially undoped. This structure is in agreement with transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Kelvin probe force microscopy results. The temperature-dependent conductivity measurements reveal a lower activation energy for charge carriers in SqP samples than in MxS films (79 meV vs 110 meV), which could be a reason for their superior conductivity. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    Short Excited-State Lifetimes Mediate Charge-Recombination Losses in Organic Solar Cell Blends with Low Charge-Transfer Driving Force
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Shivhare, Rishi; Moore, Gareth John; Hofacker, Andreas; Hutsch, Sebastian; Zhong, Yufei; Hambsch, Mike; Erdmann, Tim; Kiriy, Anton; Mannsfeld, Stefan C.B.; Ortmann, Frank; Banerji, Natalie
    A blend of a low-optical-gap diketopyrrolopyrrole polymer and a fullerene derivative, with near-zero driving force for electron transfer, is investigated. Using femtosecond transient absorption and electroabsorption spectroscopy, the charge transfer (CT) and recombination dynamics as well as the early-time transport are quantified. Electron transfer is ultrafast, consistent with a Marcus-Levich-Jortner description. However, significant charge recombination and unusually short excited (S1 ) and CT state lifetimes (≈14 ps) are observed. At low S1 -CT offset, a short S1 lifetime mediates charge recombination because: i) back-transfer from the CT to the S1 state followed by S1 recombination occurs and ii) additional S1 -CT hybridization decreases the CT lifetime. Both effects are confirmed by density functional theory calculations. In addition, relatively slow (tens of picoseconds) dissociation of charges from the CT state is observed, due to low local charge mobility. Simulations using a four-state kinetic model entailing the effects of energetic disorder reveal that the free charge yield can be increased from the observed 12% to 60% by increasing the S1 and CT lifetimes to 150 ps. Alternatively, decreasing the interfacial CT state disorder while increasing bulk disorder of free charges enhances the yield to 65% in spite of the short lifetimes.
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    Self-Replication of Deeply Buried Doped Silicon Structures, which Remotely Control the Etching Process: A New Method for Forming a Silicon Pattern from the Bottom Up
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Schutzeichel, Christopher; Kiriy, Nataliya; Kiriy, Anton; Voit, Brigitte
    A typical microstructuring process utilizes photolithographic masks to create arbitrary patterns on silicon substrates in a top-down approach. Herein, a new, bottom-up microstructuring method is reported, which enables the patterning of n-doped silicon substrates to be performed without the need for application of etch-masks or stencils during the etching process. Instead, the structuring process developed herein involves a simple alkaline etching performed under illumination and is remotely controlled by the p-doped micro-sized implants, buried beneath a homogeneous n-doped layer at depths of 0.25 to 1 µm. The microstructuring is realized because the buried implants act upon illumination as micro-sized photovoltaic cells, which generate a flux of electrons and increase the negative surface charge in areas above the implants. The locally increased surface charge causes a local protection of the native silicon oxide layer from alkaline etching, which ultimately leads to the microstructuring of the substrate. In this way, substrates having at their top a thick layer of homogeneously n-doped silicon can be structured, reducing the need for costly, time-consuming photolithography steps. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Remarkable Mechanochromism in Blends of a π-Conjugated Polymer P3TEOT: The Role of Conformational Transitions and Aggregation
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Zessin, Johanna; Schnepf, Max; Oertel, Ulrich; Beryozkina, Tetyana; König, Tobias A.F.; Fery, Andreas; Mertig, Michael; Kiriy, Anton
    A novel mechanism for well-pronounced mechanochromism in blends of a π-conjugated polymer based on reversible conformational transitions of a chromophore rather than caused by its aggregation state, is exemplified. Particularly, a strong stretching-induced bathochromic shift of the light absorption, or hypsochromic shift of the emission, is found in blends of the water-soluble poly(3-tri(ethylene glycol)) (P3TEOT) embedded into the matrix of thermoplastic polyvinyl alcohol. This counterintuitive phenomenon is explained in terms of the concentration dependency of the P3TEOT's aggregation state, which in turn results in different molecular conformations and optical properties. A molecular flexibility, provided by low glass transition temperature of P3TEOT, and the fact that P3TEOT adopts an intermediate, moderately planar conformation in the solid state, are responsible for the unusual complex mechanochromic behavior. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    Nanoimprint Lithography Facilitated Plasmonic-Photonic Coupling for Enhanced Photoconductivity and Photocatalysis
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Gupta, Vaibhav; Sarkar, Swagato; Aftenieva, Olha; Tsuda, Takuya; Kumar, Labeesh; Schletz, Daniel; Schultz, Johannes; Kiriy, Anton; Fery, Andreas; Vogel, Nicolas; König, Tobias A.F.
    Imprint lithography has emerged as a reliable, reproducible, and rapid method for patterning colloidal nanostructures. As a promising alternative to top-down lithographic approaches, the fabrication of nanodevices has thus become effective and straightforward. In this study, a fusion of interference lithography (IL) and nanosphere imprint lithography on various target substrates ranging from carbon film on transmission electron microscope grid to inorganic and dopable polymer semiconductor is reported. 1D plasmonic photonic crystals are printed with 75% yield on the centimeter scale using colloidal ink and an IL-produced polydimethylsiloxane stamp. Atomically smooth facet, single-crystalline, and monodisperse colloidal building blocks of gold (Au) nanoparticles are used to print 1D plasmonic grating on top of a titanium dioxide (TiO2) slab waveguide, producing waveguide-plasmon polariton modes with superior 10 nm spectral line-width. Plasmon-induced hot electrons are confirmed via two-terminal current measurements with increased photoresponsivity under guiding conditions. The fabricated hybrid structure with Au/TiO2 heterojunction enhances photocatalytic processes like degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye molecules using the generated hot electrons. This simple colloidal printing technique demonstrated on silicon, glass, Au film, and naphthalenediimide polymer thus marks an important milestone for large-scale implementation in optoelectronic devices. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH