Energy gaps in organic semiconductors derived from electrochemical data

Abstract

The band gap, E_G, of an organic solid can be estimated by adding the magnitudes of oxidation and reduction potentials of the compound in solution, plus a correction to the ion solvation energy which allows for the different dielectric constants of solvent and solid. Values of EG for 30 organic solids have been estimated.    

The auto-ionization model, previously used for aromatic hydrocarbons, is applied to dyes and chlorophylls. The values of E_G are used to interpret various existing results on photoconduction and semiconduction in dyes and chlorophylls.