Embedding electron-deficient nitrogen atoms in polymer backbone towards high performance n-type polymer field-effect...

Area of Science:

• Organic electronics
• Materials science
• Polymer chemistry

Background:

• Developing high-performance n-type organic semiconductors is crucial for advancing organic electronics.
• Existing materials often face challenges with stability and charge transport efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymer incorporating sp2-nitrogen atoms.
• To investigate the impact of embedded sp2-nitrogen on the electronic properties and performance of the polymer in field-effect transistors (FETs).

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of the AzaBDOPV-2T conjugated polymer featuring an isatin unit with embedded sp2-nitrogen atoms.
• Measurement of the polymer's lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level.
• Evaluation of electron mobilities in n-type polymer field-effect transistors (FETs) under ambient conditions.

Main Results:

• The developed polymer, AzaBDOPV-2T, achieved a low LUMO level of -4.37 eV.
• AzaBDOPV-2T demonstrated high electron mobilities exceeding 3.22 cm^2 V^-1 s^-1.
• These performance metrics are among the highest reported for n-type polymer FETs.

Conclusions:

• Embedding electron-deficient sp2-nitrogen atoms into conjugated backbones is an effective strategy for designing high-performance n-type polymer semiconductors.
• The conformation-locked planar backbone and lowered LUMO level of AzaBDOPV-2T contribute to its superior electron mobility.
• This work provides a promising pathway for the development of advanced organic electronic devices.