Electronic structure of potassium-doped copper phthalocyanine studied by photoemission spectroscopy and density functional calculations

The metal intercalation to an organic semiconductor is of importance since the charge transfer between a metal and an organic semiconductor can induce the highly enhanced conductivity for achieving efficient organic electronic devices. In this regard, the changes of the electronic structure of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) caused by the intercalation of potassium are studied by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Potassium intercalation leads to the appearance of an intercalation-induced peak between the highest molecular occupied orbital (HOMO) and the lowest molecular unoccupied orbital (LUMO) in the valence-band spectra obtained using UPS. The DFT calculations show that the new gap state is attributed to filling the LUMO+1, unlike a common belief of filling the LUMO. However, the LUMO+1 is not conductive because the ${\pi}$-conjugated macrocyclic isoindole rings on the molecule do not make a contribution to the LUMO+1. This is the origin of a metal-insulator transition through heavily potassium doped CuPc.