CuPc: Effects of its Doping and a Study of Its Organic-Semiconducting Properties for Application in Flexible Devices

This study refers to the doping of organic semiconductors by a simple reaction between copper phthalocyanine and tetrathiafulvalene or tetracyanoquinodimethane. The semiconductor films of copper phthalocyanine, doped with tetrathiafulvalene donor (CuPc-TTF) and tetracyanoquinodimethane acceptor (CuPc-TCNQ) on different substrates, were prepared by vacuum evaporation. The structure and morphology of the semiconductor films were studied with infrared (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The absorption spectra for CuPc-TTF, recorded in the 200–900 nm UV–vis region for the deposited films, showed two peaks: a high energy peak, around 613 nm, and a second one, around 695 nm, with both peaks corresponding to the Q-band transition of the CuPcs. From the spectra, it can also be seen that CuPc-TTF has a B-band at around 330 nm and has a bandgap of approximately 1.4 eV. The B-band in the CuPc-TCNQ spectrum is quite similar to that of CuPc-TTF; on the other hand, CuPc-TCNQ does not include a Q-band in its spectrum and its bandgap value is of approximately 1.6 eV. The experimental optical bandgaps were compared to the ones calculated through density functional theory (DFT). In order to prove the effect of dopants in the phthalocyanine semiconductor, simple devices were manufactured and their electric behaviors were evaluated. Devices constituted by the donor-acceptor active layer and by the hollow, electronic-transport selective layers, were deposited on rigid and flexible indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates by the vacuum sublimation method. The current–voltage characteristics of the investigated structures, measured in darkness and under illumination, show current density values of around 10 A/cm(2) for the structure based on a mixed-PET layer and values of 3 A/cm(2) for the stacked-glass layered structure. The electrical properties of the devices, such as carrier mobility (μ) were obtained from the J–V characteristics. The mobility values of the devices on glass were between 1.59 × 10(9) and 3.94 × 10(10) cm(2)/(V·s), whereas the values of the devices on PET were between 1.84 × 10(9) and 4.51 × 10(9) cm(2)/(V·s). The different behaviors of the rigid and flexible devices is mainly due to the effect of the substrate.