Extrinsic charge traps in disordered organic materials

Abstract

The effects of p-diethylaminobenzaldehyde diphenylhydrazone, a 0.22 eV trap, on the charge transport properties of disordered organic materials consisted of a mixture of N,N′-diphenyl N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine and polycarbonate are described. Trap-perturbed, trap-limited, and trap-controlled (trap-to-trap) transports were observed, where the trap is less effective at very low trap concentrations but appears to have increasing trap depth with respect to the concentration increase in the trap-limited regime. Most photocurrent transients showed non-dispersive transport behaviors; however, some were dispersive, especially at low electric fields or near the cross-over region between the trap-limited and trap-controlled transports. Field dependency of the mobilites at the trap-limited regime is higher than that of the trap-controlled regime, suggesting some type of superexchange phenomenon or field induced detrapping for the latter transport. For most known systems, charge transport reaches at a minimum mobility that is higher than anticipated from the trap depth. Analysis of the experimental results by theoretical models based on molecular crystals and disordered materials strongly suggests the influence of disorder but only gives qualitative agreements.