Conjugated Copolymers of Vinylene Flanked Naphthalene Diimide

Fei, Zhuping; Han, Yang; Martin, Jaime; Scholes, Fiona H.; Al-Hashimi, Mohammed; AlQaradawi, Siham Y.; Stingelin, Natalie; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.; Heeney, Martin

MACROMOLECULES

2016

We report the synthesis of a novel naphthalene diimide (NDI) monomer containing two (tributylstannyl)vinyl groups. The utility of this building block is demonstrated by its copolymerization with five different electron-rich comonomers under Stille conditions. The resulting high molecular weight polymers show red-shifted optical absorptions in comparison to the analogous polymers without the vinylene spacer and a significant increase in the intensity of the low-energy intramolecular charge transfer band. The polymers all exhibit ambipolar behavior in bottom-gate, top-contact organic thin-film transistors. The insertion of a solution-processed barium hydroxide layer between the polymer and the gold electrode led to unipolar behavior with improved electron mobilities.