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  • Role of Disorder Induced by...
    Thomas, Elayne M; Popere, Bhooshan C; Fang, Haiyu; Chabinyc, Michael L; Segalman, Rachel A

    Chemistry of materials, 05/2018, Volume: 30, Issue: 9
    Journal Article

    A fundamental understanding of charge transport in polymeric semiconductors requires knowledge of how the electrical conductivity varies with carrier density. The thermopower of semiconducting polymers is also a complex function of carrier density making it difficult to assess structure–property relationships for the thermoelectric power factor. We examined the thermoelectric properties of poly­2,5-bis­(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)­thieno­3,2-b­thiophene (pBTTT-C14) by measurements of an electrochemical transistor using a polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) gate dielectric that can modulate the carrier concentration from 4 × 1018 to 3 × 1020 cm–3. As carrier density increases, so does the concentration of associated counterions, leading to a greater degree of energetic disorder within the semiconductor. Using thermopower measurements, we show experimentally that the electronic density-of-states broadens with increasing carrier density in the semiconducting polymer. The origin of a commonly observed power law relationship between thermopower and electrical conductivity is discussed and related to the changes in the electronic density-of-states upon doping.