Oxidative molecular layer deposition based conductive and transparent PEDOT thin films as innovative electrodes for opto-electronic Applications – INNOVATION

Transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) are emerging as key materials for strategic applications such as solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and printed electronics. Although certain transparent and conductive materials have been proposed and used in this context, the scarcity of their constituent elements, the high cost of the deposition processes, and the insufficient mechanical properties have prompted the search for alternative materials. Among these, the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) presents, in the form of layers of nanometric thickness, good chemical stability, mechanical flexibility, high optical transparency, and electrical conductivity. However, several challenges must be addressed regarding the synthesis of high quality PEDOT thin films, including the control over their composition, morphology, doping level, crystallographic orientation, degree of polymerization, and ultimately the deposition mechanisms. The objective of INNOVATION is therefore to make considerable progress on the issues related to PEDOT thin films, particularly in terms of their elaboration process (robustness, control of the deposition characteristics), electronic and optical properties (while identifying and improving the most significant parameters that affect the effective charge transfer and light absorption), and their integration in devices (compatibility, stability). For this it is proposed to implement an innovative approach, to form low cost, efficient, flexible and very stable transparent electrodes for opto-electronic applications. The main approach will be focused on the development of the oxidative molecular layer deposition technique, a novel technique whose low-temperature and reduced-pressure operation should allow for better integration into these devices while maintaining a high performance.