Modifying Electrochemical Doping in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells with Gold Nanoparticles
Abstract
Electrochemical doping offers dynamic control of the electronic properties of organic semiconductors, and it is the enabling feature of a range of technologies, including electrochemical transistors, energy-storage devices, light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), and bioelectronics. Electrochemical doping is commonly controlled by the selection of the constituents in the active material of the device or the applied voltage bias, but herein we report that the incorporation of Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) at an electrode interface can constitute an alternative control parameter. The LEC features balanced p- and n-type electrochemical doping that forms a p-n junction doping structure in its active material, and we find that it is possible to reshape this doping profile by incorporating Au-NPs at an electrode interface. Specifically, we establish that the inclusion of neat non-capped Au-NPs at the anodic interface shifts the p-n junction (i.e., the emission zone) away from the anode. In contrast, the inclusion of Au-NPs capped with sodium citrate is found to reverse this behavior, so that the emission zone is instead moved towards the anode. We utilize this control parameter to shift the emission zone towards a position of constructive (destructive) interference, as manifested in a strong increase (decrease) of the LEC emission efficiency. Our findings establish an interfacial strategy for modulating the spatial profile of electrochemical doping and tuning device performance without altering the chemistry of the active material, relying instead on the surface modification of one electrode. This approach is important because it provides a versatile and minimally invasive route to optimize electrochemical devices while preserving the intrinsic properties and formulation of the active material.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{poonia2026modifying,
title = {{Modifying Electrochemical Doping in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells with Gold Nanoparticles}},
author = {Ajay K. Poonia and Anton Kirch and Joan Ràfols-Ribé and Lucrezia Catanzaro and Anish Rao and Karol Kołątaj and Vittorio Scardaci and Giuseppe Compagnini and Guillermo P. Acuna and Ludvig Edman and Nicolò Maccaferri},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.14402},
eprint = {2606.14402},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.14402},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Modifying Electrochemical Doping in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells with Gold Nanoparticles
AU - Ajay K. Poonia
AU - Anton Kirch
AU - Joan Ràfols-Ribé
AU - Lucrezia Catanzaro
AU - Anish Rao
AU - Karol Kołątaj
AU - Vittorio Scardaci
AU - Giuseppe Compagnini
AU - Guillermo P. Acuna
AU - Ludvig Edman
AU - Nicolò Maccaferri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.14402
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.14402
AB - Electrochemical doping offers dynamic control of the electronic properties of organic semiconductors, and it is the enabling feature of a range of technologies, including electrochemical transistors, energy-storage devices, light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), and bioelectronics. Electrochemical doping is commonly controlled by the selection of the constituents in the active material of the device or the applied voltage bias, but herein we report that the incorporation of Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) at an electrode interface can constitute an alternative control parameter. The LEC features balanced p- and n-type electrochemical doping that forms a p-n junction doping structure in its active material, and we find that it is possible to reshape this doping profile by incorporating Au-NPs at an electrode interface. Specifically, we establish that the inclusion of neat non-capped Au-NPs at the anodic interface shifts the p-n junction (i.e., the emission zone) away from the anode. In contrast, the inclusion of Au-NPs capped with sodium citrate is found to reverse this behavior, so that the emission zone is instead moved towards the anode. We utilize this control parameter to shift the emission zone towards a position of constructive (destructive) interference, as manifested in a strong increase (decrease) of the LEC emission efficiency. Our findings establish an interfacial strategy for modulating the spatial profile of electrochemical doping and tuning device performance without altering the chemistry of the active material, relying instead on the surface modification of one electrode. This approach is important because it provides a versatile and minimally invasive route to optimize electrochemical devices while preserving the intrinsic properties and formulation of the active material.
ER -