TY - JOUR
T1 - Solvent-vapor-annealed A-D-A-type semicrystalline conjugated small molecules for flexible ambipolar field-effect transistors
AU - Kim, Min Je
AU - Lee, Young Woong
AU - Lee, Yujeong
AU - Woo, Han Young
AU - Ho Cho, Jeong
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea (2016M1A2A2940911, 2015M1A2A2057506, 2017R1A4A1015400, and 2017R1A2B2005790).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - This paper reports a series of acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type small molecules (named P3T4-VCN, P3T4-RCN, and P3T4-INCN) based on an oligothiophene-phenylene core with three different electron-accepting terminal groups - dicyanovinyl (VCN), cyano-rhodanine (RCN), and cyano-indanone (INCN), respectively - for application to flexible ambipolar organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Intrachain noncovalent coulombic interactions (via S-F and H-F interactions) were incorporated into the design of the P3T4 backbone to enhance the chain planarity. All the P3T4-based OFETs exhibited ambipolar behavior with hole-dominant transport, and the OFET performances were strongly dependent on the terminal groups. The P3T4-INCN OFET exhibited the highest carrier mobility owing to the extended π-conjugation via the INCN moiety, which enhanced the intermolecular cofacial π-π stacking and generated an efficient carrier pathway in the transistor channel. Room temperature solvent vapor annealing resulted in a dramatic increase in the carrier mobility of the OFETs without causing any damage to a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) plastic substrate. The effects of both the terminal groups of the P3T4 small molecules and solvent vapor annealing were systematically investigated by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, two-dimensional grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. In addition, a flexible OFET array with solvent-vapor-annealed P3T4-INCN was successfully fabricated on a PEN substrate. These OFET devices exhibited a hole mobility of 0.15 cm2 V-1 s-1, an electron mobility of 0.05 cm2 V-1 s-1, an on-off current ratio of ∼105, and excellent mechanical stability even after 300 bending cycles.
AB - This paper reports a series of acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type small molecules (named P3T4-VCN, P3T4-RCN, and P3T4-INCN) based on an oligothiophene-phenylene core with three different electron-accepting terminal groups - dicyanovinyl (VCN), cyano-rhodanine (RCN), and cyano-indanone (INCN), respectively - for application to flexible ambipolar organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Intrachain noncovalent coulombic interactions (via S-F and H-F interactions) were incorporated into the design of the P3T4 backbone to enhance the chain planarity. All the P3T4-based OFETs exhibited ambipolar behavior with hole-dominant transport, and the OFET performances were strongly dependent on the terminal groups. The P3T4-INCN OFET exhibited the highest carrier mobility owing to the extended π-conjugation via the INCN moiety, which enhanced the intermolecular cofacial π-π stacking and generated an efficient carrier pathway in the transistor channel. Room temperature solvent vapor annealing resulted in a dramatic increase in the carrier mobility of the OFETs without causing any damage to a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) plastic substrate. The effects of both the terminal groups of the P3T4 small molecules and solvent vapor annealing were systematically investigated by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, two-dimensional grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. In addition, a flexible OFET array with solvent-vapor-annealed P3T4-INCN was successfully fabricated on a PEN substrate. These OFET devices exhibited a hole mobility of 0.15 cm2 V-1 s-1, an electron mobility of 0.05 cm2 V-1 s-1, an on-off current ratio of ∼105, and excellent mechanical stability even after 300 bending cycles.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047939853&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c8tc01547c
DO - 10.1039/c8tc01547c
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047939853
VL - 6
SP - 5698
EP - 5706
JO - Journal of Materials Chemistry C
JF - Journal of Materials Chemistry C
SN - 2050-7526
IS - 21
ER -