Charge Transport and Optical Absorption Properties of Dibenzocoronene Tetracarboxdiimide Based Liquid Crystalline Molecules: A Theoretical Study

Theoretical investigations of the substituent effect on the opto-electronic properties of the linearly fused napthadithiophene-based molecules

The optoelectronic and charge transport properties of eight linearly fused Napthadithiophene (NDT) molecules with different electron-withdrawing (EWG) and electron-donating (EDG) substituents are studied using the density functional theory (DFT) methods. The effect of the substitution of EWG and EDG on the molecular structure, frontier molecular orbitals, ionization energy, electron affinity, reorganization energy, crystal packing, and charge carrier mobility are studied. The crystal structure simulation method is used to optimize the possible crystal packing arrangements for the studied molecules. The energy and distribution of electron density on the frontier molecular orbitals are strongly influenced by the substitution of EWG and EDG, thereby changes in the absorption spectrum and charge transport properties. The unsubstituted NDT molecule possesses a maximum hole mobility of 2.8 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is due to the strong intermolecular interactions. Therefore, the NDT molecule can be used as a p-type semiconducting material. Among the studied molecules, the CCH-substituted NDT molecule, NDT-CCH, possesses a higher electron mobility of 1.13 cm2 V-1 s-1. The C2H5-substituted NDT molecule, NDT-C2H5, possesses ambipolar behavior with mobility of 4.77 × 10-2 cm2 V-1 s-1 and 1.70 × 10-2 cm2 V-1 s-1 for hole and electron, respectively.

Investigating the potential of organic semiconductor materials by DFT and TD-DFT calculations on aNDTs

The effects of substituting electron withdrawing and electron donating functional groups on the electronic and optical properties of angular naphthodithiophene (aNDT) were studied. Substitutions were made to the aNDT molecule at position 2 and 7, respectively. The computed ionization parameters and reorganisation energies distinguished between the p-type and n-type semiconducting natures of the unsubstituted aNDT molecule and those with the -C₂H₅, -OCH₃, -NO₂, and -CN substituents. However, the aNDT molecule with C₂H₅ as a substitution showed p-type behaviour since it had the largest electron reorganisation energy of about 0.37 eV. The ambipolar semiconducting property of methoxy [-OCH₃-] substituted aNDT molecule was revealed from the RMSD value of 0.03 Å for both positive and negative charges with respect to neutral geometry. The absorption spectra differ significantly from those of unsubstituted aNDT, which reveals the impact of functional group substitution that changes the energy level of the molecules. The maximum absorption (λ_max) and oscillator strength (f) at the excited states in vacuum was investigated using time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). The aNDT with electron withdrawing group [-NO₂] substitution has a maximum absorption wavelength of 408 nm. Studying the intermolecular interactions between aNDT molecules was also accomplished with the help of Hirshfeld surface analysis. The current work provides insight into the development of novel organic semiconductors.

Multiscale Study of the Charge Transport Properties of Silicone Rubber Oligomers

Polymer dielectrics are widely used as insulation in electronic and electrical equipment. The charge transport process in polymer dielectrics under a high electric field, which is considered to result in electrical aging and even breakdown of equipment insulation, has attracted considerable attention. Based on a localized charge transfer model, the charge transport mechanism for typical silicone rubber (SR) insulating materials was studied by multiscale methods. A model of silicone rubber oligomers under standard conditions was generated by classical molecular dynamics. The frontier molecular orbitals and projected density of states for the SR oligomer were obtained via quantum chemistry methods. The electronic coupling, reorganization energy, and free energy difference for both electron and hole transfer processes between adjacent SR molecules in the molecular dynamics model were calculated. Both hole transfer and electron transfer in SR conform to an intermolecular hopping mechanism due to their high intramolecular reorganization energy and low intermolecular electronic coupling. The results of normal mode analysis for reorganization energy indicate that the high-temperature approximation holds for charge transport in SR around or above room temperature. The charge transfer trajectory and charge mobility in SR were simulated based on kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The hole and electron mobilities at room temperature were calculated to be 7.24 × 10^-11 and 2.76 × 10^-9 cm²/Vs, respectively, which agrees with the experimental data. Both electron transport and hole transport in SR show thermal activation characteristics, with corresponding activation energies of 358 and 314 meV, respectively. This work suggests a physical model to describe the charge transport process in SR polymer dielectrics.