BN-embedded electron-deficient aromatics: from molecular engineering to multifunctional optoelectronic devices

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Organic Electronics
• Chemistry

Background:

• n-Type organic semiconductors are crucial for organic optoelectronics, flexible electronics, bioelectronics, and integrated organic circuits.
• Developing high-performance n-type polymers is challenging due to the difficulty in balancing molecular orbital energetics, charge transport, and synthesis.
• Boron-nitrogen (BN) motifs offer a versatile approach to engineer electron-deficient π-conjugated systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of BN-embedded electron-deficient small molecules and conjugated polymers.
• To emphasize molecular design principles, synthetic methodologies, and structure-property relationships.
• To discuss applications in optoelectronic devices and outline future development perspectives.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on BN-embedded organic semiconductors.
• Analysis of molecular design strategies utilizing BN motifs.
• Discussion of synthetic approaches and structure-property relationships.
• Examination of device performance in various optoelectronic platforms.

Main Results:

• BN units effectively lower LUMO energy levels, enhance electron deficiency, and modulate intermolecular interactions.
• BN incorporation preserves backbone planarity, enabling simultaneous tuning of optical bandgaps, charge transport, and stability.
• BN-enabled materials show promising performance in diverse optoelectronic devices.

Conclusions:

• BN motifs are versatile building blocks for next-generation n-type organic semiconductors.
• Rational design of BN-enabled materials can overcome current performance limitations.
• Further research in BN-based materials promises advancements in organic electronics.