Experimental and Theoretical Investigation into the Polaron Structure of K-Doped Polyfluorene Films

Abstract

The evolution of the electronic structure and optical transition upon n-doping of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) films is elucidated with photoelectron spectroscopy, optical absorption, density functional theory (DFT), and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations. Optical absorption measurements extending into near infrared show two low-energy absorption features at low doping ratios and an additional peak at a higher energy of ∼2.2 eV that disappears with increasing doping ratios. A gap state (i.e., polaronic state) close to the Fermi level and a significantly destabilized highest valence band appear in the experimentally measured ultraviolet photoelectron spectra. These experimental results are interpreted by the TD-DFT calculations, which show that the lower energy peaks originate from the excitation from polaronic states to the conduction band, while the higher energy peak mainly originates from the destabilized valence band to conduction band transitions and only appears at low doping ratios (cred ≤ 50%, 0.5 potassium atom per fluorene monomer). The DFT calculations further indicate that polaron pairs rather than bipolarons are preferentially formed at high doping ratios. Comparing the results of doped glassy and β-phase films, we find that the ordered segments in the β-phase film disappear due to the dopant (potassium) insertion, resulting in a similar polaronic structure.