Direct comparison of field-effect and electrochemical doping in regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene)

We have measured carrier mobility of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) films by both field-effect and electrochemical doping on identical devices, which allowed us a direct comparison between the two doping processes. The carrier mobility of electrochemical doping at low doping levels was lower than that of field-effect doping by two orders of magnitudes, while that of electrochemical doping steeply increased with doping levels, reaching comparable or higher values than that of field-effect doping. These results are attributable to carrier trapping by the Coulomb potentials of dopant anions at low doping levels, demonstrating a significant difference between field-effect and chemical doping. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.