High-Throughput Doping Landscapes Uncover Orientation-Driven Thermoelectric Behavior in Polymer Semiconductors
Osnat Zapata Arteaga a, Anirudh Sharma a, Taocheng Yu b, Xin Yu c, Junpeng Chen c, Yongcao Zhang a, Soyeong Jang a, Hannu Pasanen a, Fréderic Laquai a, Wee-Liat Ong b, Ting Lei b, Derya Baran a
a King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), KAUST Solar Platform (KSP), Physical Science & Engineering Division (PSE), Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
b ZJU-UIUC Institute, College of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Haining, Jiaxing, Zhejiang 314400, China
c Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2026 Conference (MATSUSSpring26)
B3 Chemical and Electrochemical Doping of Organic Semiconductors
Barcelona, Spain, 2026 March 23rd - 27th
Organizers: Mariano Campoy Quiles and Christian Müller
Oral, Osnat Zapata Arteaga, presentation 509
Publication date: 15th December 2025

Probing the expanding library of polymer–dopant combinations for organic thermoelectrics is challenging because polymer chemistry, processing, and microstructure influence optoelectronic properties. This complexity slows understanding and development of general design rules that could guide performance improvements across different applications. To overcome this limitation, we present a high-throughput workflow that evaluates hundreds of doping states within a single specimen, yielding >1,200 internally consistent measurements across a few samples, while minimizing variability. Applied to highperforming n-type DPP-based host doped along the dopant NDBMI, the approach shines light on a current controversy: dopant activation is dictated by host–dopant conformational interactions, not temperature alone. For this, we fixe different molecular orientation, that span from face-on to edge-on texture. Then through our workflow we evaluate the optical and electronic properties in a step-wise manner. Our results indicate that face-on oriented films activate rapidly, maintain order, and achieve power factors up to 200 µW m-1 K-1 at comparatively low doping, whereas edge-on and isotropic films activate slowly, accumulate disorder, and remain limited below 20 µW m-1 K-1. By converting sparse snapshots into dense trajectories, the method establishes how molecular orientation governs doping efficiency and performance, and provides a generalizable platform for deriving mechanism-based design rules across emerging polymer–dopant systems.

 

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