Oxygen incorporation in rubrene single crystals.

Single crystal rubrene is a model organic electronic material showing high carrier mobility and long exciton lifetime. These properties are detrimentally affected when rubrene is exposed to intense light under ambient conditions for prolonged periods of time, possibly due to oxygen up-take. Using photoelectron, scanning probe and ion-based methods, combined with an isotopic oxygen exposure, we present direct evidence of the light-induced reaction of molecular oxygen with single crystal rubrene.