Role of oxygen incorporation in electronic properties of rubrene films

Abstract

The electronic properties of rubrene films exposed to oxygen have been studied by photoemission and x-ray absorption spectroscopies. Oxygen incorporation causes the highest occupied molecular orbital of rubrene to shift to a ∼1.0 eV deep level due to chemical bonds formed by the oxygen atoms with the carbon atoms within the tetracene backbone of rubrene molecules. Deformation of the molecular backbone induced by the C-O bonds destroys the delocalized nature of the molecular orbitals. The oxidized rubrene molecules in a single crystal are proposed to act as point defects that disturb the long-range periodicity and produce localized acceptor states. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.