Surface Doping of Organic Single-Crystal Semiconductors to Produce Strain-Sensitive Conductive Nanosheets

A highly periodic electrostatic potential, even though established in van der Waals bonded organic crystals, is essential for the realization of a coherent band electron system. While impurity doping is an effective chemical operation that can precisely tune the energy of an electronic system, it always faces an unavoidable difficulty in molecular crystals because the introduction of a relatively high density of dopants inevitably destroys the highly ordered molecular framework. In striking contrast, a versatile strategy is presented to create coherent 2D electronic carriers at the surface of organic semiconductor crystals with their precise molecular structures preserved perfectly. The formation of an assembly of redox-active molecular dopants via a simple one-shot solution process on a molecularly flat crystalline surface allows efficient chemical doping and results in a relatively high carrier density of 10(13) cm(-2) at room temperature. Structural and magnetotransport analyses comprehensively reveal that excellent carrier transport and piezoresistive effects can be obtained that are similar to those in bulk crystals.

Automated summary

A highly periodic electrostatic potential is crucial for coherent band electron systems in van der Waals bonded organic crystals. Impurity doping faces difficulties in molecular crystals due to the destruction of ordered molecular frameworks, but a versatile strategy allows for the creation of coherent 2D electronic carriers at the surface of organic semiconductor crystals while preserving precise molecular structures. By forming redox-active molecular dopants on a molecularly flat crystalline surface through a simple solution process, efficient chemical doping and high carrier density can be achieved at room temperature, resulting in excellent carrier transport properties and piezoresistive effects similar to those in bulk crystals.