A Three‐in‐One Hybrid Strategy for High‐Performance Semiconducting Polymers Processed from Anisole

• Published in: Advanced science 2024-07, Vol.11 (25), p.e2401345-n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Cheng, Liang, Huanhuan, Xie, Runze, Zhou, Quanfeng, Qi, Miao, Yang, Chongqing, Gu, Xiaodan, Wang, Yunfei, Zhang, Guoxiang, Li, Jinlun, Gong, Xiu, Chen, Junwu, Zhang, Lianjie, Zhang, Zesheng, Ge, Xiang, Wang, Yuanyu, Yang, Chen, Liu, Yi, Liu, Xuncheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: charge carrier transport; Design; Food additives; green solvent; Health hazards; hybrid building block; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Polymer solubility; semiconducting polymers; solution processability; Solvents; Transistors
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202401345

The development of semiconducting polymers with good processability in green solvents and competitive electrical performance is essential for realizing sustainable large‐scale manufacturing and commercialization of organic electronics. A major obstacle is the processability‐performance dichotomy that is dictated by the lack of ideal building blocks with balanced polarity, solubility, electronic structures, and molecular conformation. Herein, through the integration of donor, quinoid and acceptor units, an unprecedented building block, namely TQBT, is introduced for constructing a serial of conjugated polymers. The TQBT, distinct in non‐symmetric structure and high dipole moment, imparts enhanced solubility in anisole—a green solvent—to the polymer TQBT‐T. Furthermore, PTQBT‐T possess a highly rigid and planar backbone owing to the nearly coplanar geometry and quinoidal nature of TQBT, resulting in strong aggregation in solution and localized aggregates in film. Remarkably, PTQBT‐T films spuncast from anisole exhibit a hole mobility of 2.30 cm2 V‐1 s‐1, which is record high for green solvent‐processable semiconducting polymers via spin‐coating, together with commendable operational and storage stability. The hybrid building block emerges as a pioneering electroactive unit, shedding light on future design strategies in high‐performance semiconducting polymers compatible with green processing and marking a significant stride towards ecofriendly organic electronics. A novel and groundbreaking three‐in‐one hybrid strategy through covalently integrating donor, quinoid, and acceptor is introduced to design semiconducting polymers with high polarity, nonsymmetric structure and backbone coplanarity, giving rise to good processibility in green solvent, exceptional charge carrier transport property, and noteworthy device stability.