Polaron effects and electric field dependence of the charge carrier mobility in conjugated polymers

Charge transport in conjugated polymers has been investigated using Monte Carlo simulations implemented on top of the Marcus theory for donor-acceptor transition rates. In particular, polaron effects and the dependency of the mobility on the temperature and the applied electric field have been studied. The conclusions are that while the qualitative temperature dependence is similar to that predicted by Miller-Abrahams theory in the Gaussian disorder model (GDM), the electric field dependence is characterized by a crossover into the Marcus inverted region, not present in the GDM. Furthermore, available analytical approximations to describe the electric field dependence of the mobility in Marcus theory fail to fit the simulation data and hence cannot be used to directly draw conclusions about the importance of polaron effects for charge transport in conjugated polymers. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3644931]