Formation dynamics of bipolaron in a metal/polymer/metal structure

Charge injection process from metal electrode to a nondegenerate polymer in a metal/ polymer/ metal structure has been investigated by using a nonadiabatic dynamic method. We demonstrate that the dynamical formation of a bipolaron sensitively depends on the strength of applied electric field, the work function of metal electrode, and the contact between the polymer and the electrode. For a given bias applied to one of the electrode (V₀) and coupling between the electrode and the polymer (t^′), such as V₀=0.79 eV and t^′=1 eV, the charge injection process depending on the electric field can be divided into the following three cases: (1) in the absence of the electric field, only one electron tunnels into the polymer to form a polaron near the middle of the polymer chain; (2) at low electric fields, two electrons transfer into the polymer chain to form a bipolaron; (3) at higher electric fields, bipolaron can not be formed in the polymer chain, electrons are transferred from the left electrode to right electrode through the polymer one by one accompanying with small irregular lattice deformations.