Intrinsic and extrinsic influences on the temperature dependence of mobility in conjugated polymers

The temperature dependence of charge carrier mobility in conjugated polymers and their blends with fullerenes is investigated with different electrical methods, through field effect transistor (FET), space charge limited current (SCLC) and charge extraction (CELIV) measurements. Simple models, such as the Gaussian disorder model (GDM), are shown to accurately predict the temperature behavior, and a good correlation between the different measurement methods is obtained. Inconsistent charge carrier concentrations in the modeling are explained through intrinsic non-equilibrium effects, and are responsible for the limited applicability of existing numerical models. A severe extrinsic influence from water in FETs with a hydrophilic insulator interface is also demonstrated. The presence of water leads to a significant overestimate of the disorder in the materials from measurements close to room temperature and erratic behavior in the 150-350 K range. To circumvent this problem it is shown to be necessary to measure under ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.