High-performance n-Type Polymers Based on Multiple Electron-withdrawing Groups Decorated (E)-1,2-Di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene Building Blocks

Abstract

The performance of n-type conjugated polymers lags far behind that of p-type polymers, which significantly restricts the development of organic electronics. The (E)-1,2-di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene (TVT) unit, owing to its unique advantages, has been widely applied in the design of p-type polymer semiconductors. Previous studies have demonstrated that introducing electron-withdrawing groups can lower the frontier orbital energy levels of polymers and enhance electron injection/transporting capabilities. Based on this, we proposed incorporating multiple electronwithdrawing groups, such as amide groups, fluorine atoms, and cyano groups, into the polymer backbones of TVT-based polymer to facilitate the electron transport. We successfully designed and synthesized the polymers TVTDA-4FTVT and TVTDA-2F2CNTVT. Both polymers exhibited low frontier orbital energy levels. Due to its significantly higher crystallization tendency and favorable intermolecular packing structure, the organic field-effect transistor (OFET) device based on TVTDA-4FTVT demonstrated an electron mobility one order of magnitude higher than that of TVTDA-2F2CNTVT. TVTDA-4FTVT showed the highest electron mobility of 0.87 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹, while TVTDA-2F2CNTVT exhibited the highest electron mobility of 0.049 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻¹. Owing to its deeper lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level, the OFET devices based on TVTDA-2F2CNTVT showed good air stability after being placed in a natural environment for 15 d.

Keywords

Organic field-effect transistor / Electron-withdrawing group / n-Type / Mobility / Conjugated polymer

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Jilin University, The Editorial Department of Chemical Research in Chinese Universities and Springer-Verlag GmbH