David L. Cheung

Modelling charge transport in organic semiconductors: from quantum dynamics to soft matter

The charge carrier dynamics in organic semiconductors has been traditionally discussed with the models used in inorganic crystalline and amorphous solids but this analogy has severe limitations because of the more complicated role of nuclear motions in organic materials. In this perspective, we discuss how a new approach to the modelling of charge transport is emerging from the alliance between the conventional quantum chemical methods and the methods more traditionally used in soft-matter modelling. After describing the conventional limit cases of charge transport we discuss the problems arising from the comparison of the theory with the experimental and computational results. Several recent applications of numerical methods based on the propagation of the wavefunction or kinetic Monte Carlo methods on soft semiconducting materials are reviewed.

Computational study of the structure and charge-transfer parameters in low-molecular-mass P3HT.

Using classical molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations, the structure and charge-transfer parameters in crystalline poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) are investigated. The changes in polymer structure with temperature are studied and, by performing DFT calculations on configurations found from MD, the changes in the charge-transfer characteristics are investigated. The system is found to adopt a structure consistent with X-ray diffraction experiments on the so-called type-II polymorph of the poly(3-alkylthiophenes). Upon increasing temperature, a conformational change in the polymer side chains occurs, which is found to lead to increased disorder in the interring torsions, which modulates the charge transfer along the polymer backbone. The intrachain transfer integrals are found to decrease slightly with temperature, while their distribution broadens considerably due to increased thermal motion of the rings. The interchain transfer integrals are found to be appreciable for both nearest and next-nearest neighbor rings. This, taken with the fact that the positions of rings on neighboring chains are strongly correlated, has consequences for the development of more accurate phenomenological charge-transport models, such as variable range hopping models.

A realistic description of the charge carrier wave function in microcrystalline polymer semiconductors

The electronic structure of the charge carrier in one of the most commonly used semiconducting polymers (poly(3-hexylthiophene (P3HT)) is described using a combination of classical and quantum chemical methods. It is shown that the carriers are localized in correspondence with long-lived traps which are present also in the crystalline phase of the polymer. The existence of activated transport for very ordered polymer phases (regardless of the strength of the polaron formation energy) is explained, and the trapped states, postulated by many phenomenological models, are described for the first time with chemical detail. It is shown that computational chemistry methods can be used to fill the gap between phenomenological descriptions of charge transport in polymers and microscopic descriptions of the individual quantum dynamic processes.

Mechanochemical Tuning of the Binaphthyl Conformation at the Air–Water Interface†

Gradual and reversible tuning of the torsion angle of an amphiphilic chiral binaphthyl, from -90° to -80°, was achieved by application of a mechanical force to its molecular monolayer at the air-water interface. This 2D interface was an ideal location for mechanochemistry for molecular tuning and its experimental and theoretical analysis, since this lowered dimension enables high orientation of molecules and large variation in the area. A small mechanical energy (<1 kcal mol(-1) ) was applied to the monolayer, causing a large variation (>50 %) in the area of the monolayer and modification of binaphthyl conformation. Single-molecule simulations revealed that mechanical energy was converted proportionally to torsional energy. Molecular dynamics simulations of the monolayer indicated that the global average torsion angle of a monolayer was gradually shifted.

Polymer vesicles with a colloidal armor of nanoparticles

The fabrication of polymer vesicles with a colloidal armor made from a variety of nanoparticles is demonstrated. In addition, it is shown that the armored supracolloidal structure can be postmodified through film-formation of soft polymer latex particles on the surface of the polymersome, hereby effectively wrapping the polymersome in a plastic bag, as well as through formation of a hydrogel by disintegrating an assembled polymer latex made from poly(ethyl acrylate-co-methacrylic acid) upon increasing the pH. Furthermore, ordering and packing patterns are briefly addressed with the aid of Monte Carlo simulations, including patterns observed when polymersomes are exposed to a binary mixture of colloids of different size.

Stability of Janus nanoparticles at fluid interfaces

Using Monte Carlo simulations the interaction of a nanometre-sized, spherical Janus particle (a particle with two distinct surface regions of different functionality, in this case showing amphiphilic behaviour) with an ideal fluid interface is studied. In common with previous simulations of spherical, isotropic particles, the range of the nanoparticle-interface interaction is significantly larger than the nanoparticle radius due to the broadening of the interface due to capillary waves. For a uniform particle (an isotropic particle with one surface characteristic) the stability of the particle at a liquid interface is decreased as the affinity for one liquid phase is increased relative to the other; for large affinity differences the detachment energies calculated from continuum theory become increasingly accurate. For a symmetric Janus particle (where the two different surface regions are of equal area), the presence of the particle at the interface becomes more stable upon increasing the difference in affinity between the two faces, with each face having a high affinity for the respective liquid phase. In the case studied here, where surface tension between the A-region of the particle with the A-component is identical to the surface tension between the B-region and B-component, the interaction is symmetric with respect to the nanoparticle interface separation. The particle is found to have a large degree of orientational freedom, in sharp contrast to micrometre-sized colloidal particles. Comparison with continuum theory shows that this significantly overestimates the detachment energy, due to its neglect of nanoparticle rotation; simulations of nanoparticles with fixed orientations show a considerably larger detachment energy. As the areas of the surface regions become asymmetric the stability of the Janus nanoparticle is decreased and, in the case of large differences in affinities of the two faces, the difference between detachment energies from simulation and continuum theory diminishes.

Molecular Simulation of Hydrophobin Adsorption at an Oil–Water Interface

Hydrophobins are small, amphiphilic proteins expressed by strains of filamentous fungi. They fulfill a number of biological functions, often related to adsorption at hydrophobic interfaces, and have been investigated for a number of applications in materials science and biotechnology. In order to understand the biological function and applications of these proteins, a microscopic picture of the adsorption of these proteins at interfaces is needed. Using molecular dynamics simulations with a chemically detailed coarse-grained potential, the behavior of typical hydrophobins at the water-octane interface is studied. Calculation of the interfacial adsorption strengths indicates that the adsorption is essentially irreversible, with adsorption strengths of the order of 100 k(B)T (comparable to values determined for synthetic nanoparticles but significantly larger than small molecule surfactants and biomolecules). The protein structure at the interface is unchanged at the interface, which is consistent with the biological function of these proteins. Comparison of native proteins with pseudoproteins that consist of uniform particles shows that the surface structure of these proteins has a large effect on the interfacial adsorption strengths, as does the flexibility of the protein.

Calculation of the rotational viscosity of a nematic liquid crystal

Equilibrium molecular dynamics calculations have been performed for the liquid crystal molecule n-4-(trans-4-n-pentylcyclohexyl)benzonitrile (PCH5) using a fully atomistic model. Simulation data has been obtained for a series of temperatures in the nematic phase. The rotational viscosity co-efficient, γ1, has been calculated using the angular velocity correlation function of the nematic director, n, the mean squared diffusion of n and statistical mechanical methods based on the rotational diffusion co-efficient. We find good agreement between the first two methods and experimental values.

Transition from dynamic to static disorder in one-dimensional organic semiconductors.

A generic model Hamiltonian is proposed for the study of the transport in a quasi-one-dimensional semiconductor in the charge transport regime intermediate between dynamic localization and static localization due to structural disorder. This intermediate regime may be appropriate for many organic semiconductors, including polymers, discotic liquid crystals, and DNA. The dynamics of the charge carrier is coupled to classical Langevin oscillators whose spectral density can be adjusted to model experimental systems of interest. In the proposed model, the density of states is constant (at constant temperature) and the transition from dynamic to static disorder is controlled by a single parameter. This paper further clarifies that the density of states may not contain all the information needed to describe the charge transport in some materials.

Calculation of flexoelectric coefficients for a nematic liquid crystal by atomistic simulation

Equilibrium molecular dynamics calculations have been performed for the liquid crystal molecule n-4-(trans-4-n-pentylcyclohexyl)benzonitrile (PCH5) using a fully atomistic model. Simulation data have been obtained for a series of temperatures in the nematic phase. The simulation data have been used to calculate the flexoelectric coefficients e(s) and e(b) using the linear response formalism of Osipov and Nemtsov [M. A. Osipov and V. B. Nemtsov, Sov. Phys. Crstallogr. 31, 125 (1986)]. The temperature and order parameter dependence of e(s) and e(b) are examined, as are separate contributions from different intermolecular interactions. Values of e(s) and e(b) calculated from simulation are consistent with those found from experiment.