Issue 8, 2012

New tetrathiafulvalene fused-naphthalene diimides for solution-processible and air-stable p-type and ambipolar organic semiconductors

Abstract

New conjugated electron donor–acceptor molecules with tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) fused-naphthalene diimide frameworks (1–6) are synthesized and investigated. The NDI cores are flanked by TTF and 2-(1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene)malonitrile moieties within 1–3, whereas compounds 4–6 contain two TTF moieties. Based on cyclic voltammetric and absorption spectral studies, the LUMO and HOMO energies of 1–3 are estimated to be ca. −4.3 eV and ca. −5.1 eV, and those of 4–6 are ca. −4.1 eV and ca. −5.0 eV, respectively. These values are consistent with theoretical calculations. Thin films of 1–6 are easily prepared with the spin-coating technique and the resulting OFETs are successfully fabricated with conventional procedures. The OFETs results reveal that compounds 1–3 behave as ambipolar semiconductors and 4–6 as p-type semiconductors. Among 1–3, compound 3 exhibits relatively high hole and electron mobilities in air, reaching 0.03 and 0.003 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively, after annealing at 160 °C. The OFET based on a thin film of 5 shows the best performance with μh = 0.31 cm2 V−1 s−1, Ion/off = 104 among compounds 4–6 after annealing at 160 °C. The thin films of 1–6 are investigated with XRD and AFM, and the data can well interpret the variation of carrier mobilities of 1–6 after annealing. Moreover, the influences of alkyl chains in 1–6 on the intermolecular arrangements and carrier mobilities are also discussed.

Graphical abstract: New tetrathiafulvalene fused-naphthalene diimides for solution-processible and air-stable p-type and ambipolar organic semiconductors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
10 Mar 2012
Accepted
22 May 2012
First published
22 May 2012

Chem. Sci., 2012,3, 2530-2541

New tetrathiafulvalene fused-naphthalene diimides for solution-processible and air-stable p-type and ambipolar organic semiconductors

L. Tan, Y. Guo, Y. Yang, G. Zhang, D. Zhang, G. Yu, W. Xu and Y. Liu, Chem. Sci., 2012, 3, 2530 DOI: 10.1039/C2SC20303K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements