General Spatial Confinement Recrystallization Method for Rapid Preparation of Thickness-Controllable and Uniform Organic Semiconductor Single Crystals.

Abstract

Organic semiconductor single crystals (OSSCs) are ideal materials for studying the intrinsic properties of organic semiconductors (OSCs) and constructing high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). However, there is no general method to rapidly prepare thickness-controllable and uniform single crystals for various OSCs. Here, inspired by the recrystallization (a spontaneous morphological instability phenomenon) of polycrystalline films, a spatial confinement recrystallization (SCR) method is developed to rapidly (even at several second timescales) grow thickness-controllable and uniform OSSCs in a well-controlled way by applying longitudinal pressure to tailor the growth direction of grains in OSCs polycrystalline films. The relationship between growth parameters including the growth time, temperature, longitudinal pressure, and thickness is comprehensively investigated. Remarkably, this method is applicable for various OSCs including insoluble and soluble small molecules and polymers, and can realize the high-quality crystal array growth. The corresponding 50 dinaphtho[2,3-b:2″,3″-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DNTT) single crystals coplanar OFETs prepared by the same batch have the mobility of 4.1 ± 0.4 cm2 V-1 s-1 , showing excellent uniformity. The overall performance of the method is superior to the reported methods in term of growth rate, generality, thickness controllability, and uniformity, indicating its broad application prospects in organic electronic and optoelectronic devices.