ap9b00860_si_001.pdf (1.39 MB)
A Conjugated Polymer Containing a B ← N Unit for Unipolar n‑Type Organic Field-Effect Transistors
journal contribution
posted on 2019-12-20, 21:04 authored by Ruyan Zhao, Yang Min, Chuandong Dou, Baojun Lin, Wei Ma, Jun Liu, Lixiang WangSolution-processed organic field-effect transistors (OFETs)
have
great potential for next-generation “plastic electronics”.
The development of n-type polymer semiconductors still lags far behind
that of p-type polymer semiconductors, including material number and device performance.
Moreover, the reported high-performance n-type polymer semiconductors
are mostly based on amide and imide units. To enrich the family
of n-type polymers and promote the development of OFETs, we have proposed
using a boron–nitrogen coordination bond (B←N) to develop
n-type polymer semiconductors. In this work, we report a B←N-containing
conjugated polymer, PBN-13, which is an alternating polymer
of a double B←N-bridged bipyridine unit and a 5,6-difluoro-4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole unit. This polymer exhibits strong
aggregation ability in solution and good crystallinity in a thin film,
which are very desirable for achieving good electron-transporting
properties. The OFET device based on PBN-13 shows unipolar
n-type behavior with an electron mobility of 0.19 cm2 V–1 s–1. The electron mobility is enhanced
∼10-fold compared to those of other n-type polymer semiconductors
containing a B←N unit. This study thus not only provides an
efficient n-type polymer semiconductor but also proves that the B←N
unit is a promising candidate for the development of n-type polymer
materials for OFETs.