Organic Disordered Semiconductors as Networks Embedded in Space and Energy.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Network Science

Background:

• Organic disordered semiconductors are vital for flexible electronics due to their low cost and versatility.
• Carrier transport in these materials follows variable-range hopping between localized states, described by the Gaussian disorder model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model organic disordered semiconductor systems as networks.
• To investigate carrier dynamics and network properties using computational methods.

Main Methods:

• Representing localized states as nodes and hopping rates as links in a network.
• Utilizing network Laplacian matrices and edge-centric random walks for carrier dynamics simulation.
• Analyzing network properties, specifically small-world characteristics, at different temperatures.

Main Results:

• Simulations reveal a strong small-world network propensity in organic disordered semiconductors at room temperature.
• This small-world characteristic is less pronounced at low temperatures.
• A correlation is observed between increasing temperature and the emergence of small-world properties.

Conclusions:

• The small-world nature of the semiconductor network at room temperature is beneficial for efficient carrier transport.
• Temperature plays a critical role in the emergence of small-world properties, mirroring carrier mobility dependence.
• This study offers a novel network-based perspective on carrier transport in organic disordered semiconductors.