Advanced Functional Materials, Vol.20, No.10, 1661-1669, 2010
Highly Emissive and Electrochemically Stable Thienylene Vinylene Oligomers and Copolymers: An Unusual Effect of Alkylsulfanyl Substituents
The synthesis, unexpected efficient photoluminescence, and reversible electrochemical p- and n-doping of new conjugated thienylene vinylene materials functionalized with alkylsulfanyl substituents poly(trithienylene vinylene) (PTTV) and poly(dithienylvinyl-co-benzothiadiazole) (PDTVB) along with dithienylvinylene-based oligomers is reported. The materials are studied by thermal and X-ray diffraction analysis, optical spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and spectroelectrochemistry. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are fabricated with PTTV and PDTVB. The polymers, prepared by Stille polycondensation, exhibit good thermal stability and a photoluminescent quantum yield in the range 34%-68%. Low bandgaps (1.5-1.8 eV), estimated by optical and electrochemical measurements along with high stability of both redox states, suggest that these structures are promising materials for photovoltaic applications. OFETs fabricated with PDTVB reveal a hole mobility of 7 x 10(-3) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) with on/off ratio 10(5), which are comparatively high values for completely amorphous polymer semiconductors.