Electron affinity, conjugated polymers

I. D. W. Samuel, G. Rumbles, and C. J. Collison, Efficient inter-chain photoluminescence in a high electron affinity conjugated polymer, Phys. Rev. B 52 11573 (1995). 

Conjugation Polymers with High Electron Affinity. 223... 

After a photon has excited the conjugated polymer to form an exciton, the C60 accepts one electron due to its high electron affinity and establishes the anion Cg0. What is left on the polymer chain is a cation radical, i.e., a positive polaron, as depicted in Fig. 1.14, which is a mobile charge carrier that can move along the polymer backbone. This transfer is an exothermal reaction, where energy from the system is released. 

Several organics, e.g. pristine poly(3-octylthiophene), polyfluorene, bifunctional spiro compounds and polyphenyleneethynylene derivative, have been used for fabricating photOFETs. Responsivity as high as 0.5-1 A/W has been achieved in some of these transistors. We have already discussed the bulk heterojunction concept in Chapter 5. The bulk heterojunctions are fabricated using acceptor materials with high electron affinity (such as C<5o or soluble derivatives of C6o) mixed with conjugated polymers as electron donors. PhotOFETs based on conjugated polymer/fullerene blends are expected to show... 

Electrical conduction will occur by the hopping of either electrons or holes within these distributions of energy levels. Charge transport can be either of holes by transfer between the LUMO states or of electrons between the HOMO states. These correspond to the formation of either a radical cation by the removal of an electron to an adjacent electrode or an anion by the injection of an electron. The nature of the majority carriers will, therefore, be determined by the ionisation potentials and electron affinities of the conjugated moieties. A low ionisation potential will favour hole transport while a high electron affinity will favour electron transport. Most of the conductive polymers reported in the literature have low ionisation potentials and are hole, conductors. ... 

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