We present simulation results, computed with the Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics method, at zero and ambient temperature (300 K) for poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) [PEDOT] and its selenium and tellurium derivatives PEDOS and PEDOTe, represented as 12-oligomer chains. In particular, we focus on structural parameters such as the dihedral rotation angle distribution, as well as how the charge distribution is affected by temperature. We find that for PEDOT, the dihedral angle distribution shows two distinct local maxima whereas for PEDOS and PEDOTe, the distributions only have one clear maximum. The twisting stiffness at ambient temperature appears to be larger the lighter the heteroatom (S, Se, Te) is, in contrast to the case at 0 K. As regards point charge distributions, they suggest that aromaticity increases with temperature, and also that aromaticity becomes more pronounced the lighter the heteroatom is, both at 0 K and ambient temperature. Our results agree well with previous results, where available. The bond lengths are consistent with substantial aromatic character both at 0 K and at ambient temperature. Our calculations also reproduce the expected trend of diminishing gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital with increasing atomic number of the heteroatom.

The conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), or PEDOT, is an attractive material for flexibleelectronics. We present combined molecular dynamics and quantum chemical calculations, based on den-sity functional theory, of EDOT oligomers and isoelectronic selenium and tellurium derivatives (EDOS andEDOTe) to address the effect of temperature on the geometrical and electronic properties of these systems.With finite size scaling, we also extrapolate our results to the infinite polymers, i.e. PEDOT, PEDOS and PEDOTe. Our computations indicate that the most favourable oligomer conformations at finite temperature are conformations around the flat trans-conformation and a non-flat conformation around 45 from the cis-conformation. Also, the dihedral stiffness increases with the atomic number of the heteroatom. We find excellent agreement with experimentally measured gaps for PEDOT and PEDOS. For PEDOT, the gap does not increase with temperature where as this is the case for its derivatives. The conformational disorder as well as the choice of basis set both significantly affect the calculated gaps.

We present a density functional theory (DFT) study on polaron formation and optical properties of PEDOT and its selenium and tellurium derivatives. Comparing a number of combinations of basis set and approximations to the exchange-correlation functional, we find that the ωB97XD functional is an overall good choice giving well-localized polarons and optical spectra in good agreement with experiment. This functional has the correct long-range  asymptotic behavior, and also includes some short-range Hartree-Fock exchange. Despite the  long-range Hartree-Fock exchange part present in this functional, the spin contamination remains relatively limited and it also stably produces results that are virtually independent of the basis set used.

Conducting polymers have become standard engineering materials used in many electronic devices. Despite this, there is a lack of understanding of the microscopic origin of the conducting properties, especially at realistic device field strengths. We present simulations of doped poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) using a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) tight-binding model, with the electric field included in the Hamiltonian through a time-dependent vector potential via Peierls substitution of the phase factor. We find that polarons typically break down within less than a picosecond after the field has been switched on, already for electric fields as low as around 1.6 mV/angstrom. This is a field strength common in many flexible organic electronic devices. Our results challenge the relevance of the polaron as charge carrier in conducting polymers for a wide range of applications.

Polaron charge transport in doped poly(p-phenylene), PPP, in the presence of magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities and an electric field, is studied using the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) tight-binding model. In our approach, the electric field is included in the Hamiltonian through the time-dependent vector potential via Peierls substitution of the phase factor. We describe the dynamics of the polarons and identify three distinct regimes: transmission, reflection, and trapping of polarons at the impurity site. The strength of the electric field as well as the impurity potential determine the outcome ofthe scattering.

In the present work the density functional calculations of two naphthobischalcogenadiazole (NXz) oligomers are shown. The oxygen- and sulphur-containing NXz trimers were optimized in a form of a neutral oligomer and a radical cation in order to investigate structural changes resulting from the polaron formation. The influence of polaron on band gaps is determined and supported with densities of states analysis together with absorption spectra. This manuscript used B3LYP and ωB97XD functionals in combination with 6-31+G(d) basis set.