PEDOT preparation, morphology, and electronic structure

With the introduction of the concept of “Internet of things,” devices based on organic electronics have flourished which widely used in flexible displays, touch panels, and soft sensors. Owing to its high electrical conductivity (up to 103 S cm −1 ), transparency, and thermal stability, Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been used in a wide field of applications. However, PEDOT:PSS has some technical issues stem from the use of PSS as external ions to compensate the positive charges on PEDOT, impeding its further practical application. Therefore, Prescient and intensive studies on fully soluble self-doped PEDOT (S-PEDOT) have been reported in the literature. Given their point of view, the molecular weight of S-PEDOT is the critical parameter for increasing the number of nanocrystals, which can reduce both the average distance between adjacent nanocrystals and the activation energy for the hopping of charge carriers, achieving desired bulk conductivity. This chapter focuses on introducing the preparation, morphology, and electronic structures of PEDOTs.