Benzo/Naphthodifuranone-Based Polymers: Effect of Perpendicular-Extended Main Chain π-Conjugation on Organic Field-Effect Transistor Performances.

For polymer semiconductors, the backbone structure plays an essential role in determining their physicochemical properties and charge transport behaviors. In this work, two donor-acceptor-type polymers (P-BDF and P-NDF) based on benzodifuranone (BDF) and naphthodifunarone (NDF) as electron-deficient moieties and indaceno-dithiophene as electron-rich groups are designed, synthesized and, for the first time, applied in organic field-effect transistor. P-BDF and P-NDF differ from their backbone structures while P-BDF has a more planar backbone conformation due to its smaller conjugated core size and P-NDF features a perpendicular-extended main chain structure. As a result, P-BDF polymer exhibits bathochromic optical absorption, deeper molecular orbital energy levels, and more importantly, closer π-stacking and stronger aggregation in the solid state and thus affords a more promising hole mobility of up to 0.85 cm2 V-1 s-1 in OFET devices, while that of the P-NDF-based devices is only 0.55 cm2 V-1 s-1 . The results suggest the great potential of BDF/NDF-type chromophores in constructing novel organic semiconductors and also indicate that the main chain coplanarity of polymer semiconductors is more essential than the sole extension of π-conjugations (especially at the perpendicular direction of polymer main chains) for the design of high-performance OFET materials.

Ultranarrow Bandgap Naphthalenediimide-Dialkylbifuran-Based Copolymers with High-Performance Organic Thin-Film Transistors and All-Polymer Solar Cells.

A new polymer acceptor poly{(N,N'-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenedicarboximide-2,6-diyl)-alt-5,5-(3,3'-didodecyl-2,2'-bifuran)} (NDI-BFR) made from naphthalenediimide (NDI) and furan-derived head-to-head-linked 3,3'-dialkyl-2,2'-bifuran (BFR) units is reported in this study. Compared to the benchmark polymer poly(naphthalenediimide-alt-bithiophene) (N2200), NDI-BFR exhibits a larger bathochromic shift of absorption maxima (842 nm) with a much higher absorption coefficient (7.2 × 104 m-1 cm-1 ), leading to an ultranarrow optical bandgap of 1.26 eV. Such properties ensure good harvesting of solar light from visible to the near-infrared region in solar cells. Density functional theory calculation reveals that the polymer acceptor NDI-BFR possesses a higher degree of backbone planarity versus the polymer N2200. The polymer NDI-BFR exhibits a decent electron mobility of 0.45 cm2 V-1 s-1 in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), and NDI-BFR-based all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.39% with a very small energy loss of 0.45 eV by using the environmentally friendly solvent 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. These results demonstrate that incorporating head-to-head-linked BFR units in the polymer backbone can lead to increased planarity of the polymer backbone, reduced optical bandgap, and improved light absorbing. The study offers useful guidelines for constructing n-type polymers with narrow optical bandgaps.

Fused Bithiophene Imide Oligomer and Diketopyrrolopyrrole Copolymers for n-Type Thin-Film Transistors.

Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based copolymers have received considerable attention as promising semiconducting materials for high-performance organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). However, these polymers typically exhibit p-type or ambipolar charge-transporting characteristics in OTFTs due to their high-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels. In this work, a new series of DPP-based n-type polymers have been developed by incorporating fused bithiophene imide oligomers (BTIn) into DPP polymers. The resulting copolymers BTIn-DPP show narrow band gaps as low as 1.27 eV and gradually down-shifted frontier molecular orbital energy levels upon the increment of imide group number. Benefiting from the coplanar backbone conformation, well-delocalized π-system, and favorable polymer chain packing, the optimal polymer in the series shows promising n-type charge transport with an electron mobility up to 0.48 cm2 V-1 s-1 in OTFTs, which is among the highest values for the DPP-based n-type polymers reported to date. The results demonstrate that incorporating fused bithiophene imide oligomers into polymers can serve as a promising strategy for constructing high-performance n-type polymeric semiconductors.