Issue 19, 2007

Comparing the electron and hole mobilities in the α and β phases of perylene: role of π-stacking

Abstract

Computational studies are carried out on α and β polymorphs of perylene molecular crystals to estimate their hole and electron mobilities (μhole and μelectron). For both the polymorphs, it is found that the LUMO bandwidhs are larger than the HOMO bandwidth resulting in larger electron conductance, as observed experimentally and which has remained unexplained until now. For a microscopic understanding, we perform quantum chemical calculations for the hole and electron transfer matrix elements (Hmnhole and Hmnelectron) on some selected unique nearest neighbour pairs of molecules in the crystal geometries. This along with calculations for the hole and electron reorganization energies (λhole and λelectron) within the embedded cluster method reveal that for both the crystals, μelectron exceeds μhole by two orders of magnitude. The electron mobility for the α-phase (μelectron = 67.2 cm2 V−1 s−1) is found to be three times that for the β-phase. The major driving force for preferential electron conductance in α-perylene is the slipped parallel π-stacking arrangement of the molecules at short intermolecular distances (d = 3.9 Å) in the crystal. We suggest that experimental strategies that further enhance the percentage of such specific π-stacking dimers in molecular assemblies have the potential to further increase μelectron. The present theoretical calculations provide a unified understanding of the parameters that optimize an organic crystal for enhanced electron and hole mobilities.

Graphical abstract: Comparing the electron and hole mobilities in the α and β phases of perylene: role of π-stacking

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Jan 2007
Accepted
13 Feb 2007
First published
06 Mar 2007

J. Mater. Chem., 2007,17, 1933-1938

Comparing the electron and hole mobilities in the α and β phases of perylene: role of π-stacking

A. Datta, S. Mohakud and S. K. Pati, J. Mater. Chem., 2007, 17, 1933 DOI: 10.1039/B700625J

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