Modifying the thermal conductivity of small molecule organic semiconductor thin films with metal nanoparticles

Thermal properties of organic semiconductors play a significant role in the performance and lifetime of organic electronic devices, especially for scaled-up large area applications. Here we employ silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) to modify the thermal conductivity of the small molecule organic semiconductor, dinaphtho[ 2,3-b:2',3'-f] thieno[3,2-b] thiophene (DNTT). The differential 3-omega method was used to measure the thermal conductivity of Ag-DNTT hybrid thin films. We find that the thermal conductivity of pure DNTT thin films do not vary with the deposition temperature over a range spanning 24 degrees C to 80 degrees C. The thermal conductivity of the Ag-DNTT hybrid thin film initially decreases and then increases when the Ag volume fraction increases from 0% to 32%. By applying the effective medium approximation to fit the experimental results of thermal conductivity, the extracted thermal boundary resistance of the Ag-DNTT interface is 1.14 +/- 0.98 x 10(-7) m(2)-K/W. Finite element simulations of thermal conductivity for realistic film morphologies show good agreement with experimental results and effective medium approximations.