Impact of regioregularity on thin-film transistor and photovoltaic cell performances of pentacene-containing polymers

Abstract

Regioregular pentacene-containing polymers were synthesized with alkylated bithiophene (BT) and cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) as comonomers. Among them, 2,9-conjugated polymers PnBT-2,9 and PnCPDT-2,9 achieved the best performance in transistor and photovoltaic devices respectively. The former achieved the most highly ordered structures in thin films, yielding ambipolar transistor behavior with hole and electron mobilities up to 0.03 and 0.02 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ on octadecylsilane-treated substrates. The latter achieved photovoltaic power conversion efficiencies up to 0.33%. The impact of regioregularity and direction of conjugation-extension (2,9 vs. 2,10), on thin-film order and device performance has been demonstrated for the pentacene-containing polymers for the first time, providing insight towards future functional material design.