Small band gap polymers incorporating a strong acceptor, thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dione, with p-channel and ambipolar charge transport characteristics

Abstract

We present new donor–acceptor semiconducting polymers based on a strong acceptor unit, thieno[3,2-b]thiophene-2,5-dione (TTD). The polymers exhibit a deep LUMO energy level of around −4 eV while preserving a relatively low-lying HOMO energy level of below −5 eV and a quite small optical band gap of 1.2 eV. Interestingly, bottom-gate-top-contact transistor devices based on the polymers demonstrate p-channel behavior with high hole-mobilites of 1.38 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, whereas top-gate-bottom-contact devices show ambipolar behavior with hole and electron mobilities of ∼0.12 and ∼0.20 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively. These results indicate the great potential of TTD to be used as the building unit for high-performance semiconducting polymers.