Polymer electronic materials: a review of charge transport

This article presents an overview of the charge transport phenomenon in semiconducting polymer materials. In these disordered systems both intrinsic and extrinsic parameters play significant roles. In general, pi-electron delocalization, interchain interaction, band gap, carrier density, extent of disorder, morphology and processing of materials determine the electrical and optical properties. The chemical structure, especially the role of side groups, is quite important in both physical and processing properties. The nature of charge carriers and their role in charge transport depend on the structure and morphology of the system. Hence in several semiconducting polymer devices, the correlations among structure, morphology and transport are rather strong. The dependence of carrier mobility on temperature and electric field needs to be understood in the framework of competing models based on carrier hopping, trapping/detrapping and tunneling. Exactly what determines the dispersive/nondispersive, polaronic and correlative transport regimes is yet to be quantified. An understanding of the carrier mobility in semiconducting polymers is necessary to optimize the performance of polymeric electronic devices. (C) 2006 Society of Chemical Industry.