High Tolerance of Double-Decker Phthalocyanine toward Molecular Oxygen

Because organic electronics suffer from degradation-inducing oxidation processes, oxygen-tolerant organic molecules could solve this issue and be integrated to improve the stability of devices during operation. In this work, we investigate how lutetium double-decker phthalocyanine (LuPc2) reacts toward molecular oxygen and we report microscopic details of its interaction with LuPc2 film by combining X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and density functional theory. Surprisingly, LuPc2 molecules are found to weakly physisorb below 120 K and appear rather inert to molecular oxygen at more elevated temperatures. We are able to draw a microscopic picture at low temperature, in which oxygen molecules stick on top of the pyrrolic carbon of LuPc2. Our work sheds light on a class of semiconducting molecules, namely, double-decker phthalocyanines, which present a high tolerance toward molecular oxygen, opening promising perspectives for the design of stable materials to be applied in the next generation of organic-based electronic devices operating under ambient conditions.