The development of organic semiconductors for use in thermoelectrics requires the optimization of both their thermopower and electrical conductivity. Here two fundamentally different doping mechanisms are used to investigate the thermoelectric properties of known high hole mobility polymers: poly 3‐hexylthiophene (P3HT), poly(2,5‐bis(3‐tetradecylthiophen‐2‐yl)thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene) (PBTTT‐C14), and poly(2,5‐bis(thiphen‐2‐yl)‐(3,7‐diheptadecantyltetrathienoacene)) (P2TDC17‐FT4). The small molecule tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) is known to effectively dope these polymers, and the thermoelectric properties are studied as a function of the ratio of dopant to polymer repeat unit. Higher electrical conductivity and values of the thermoelectric power factor are achieved by doping with vapor‐deposited fluoroalkyl trichlorosilanes. The combination of these data reveals a striking relationship between thermopower and conductivity in thiophene‐based polymers over a large range of electrical conductivity that is independent of the means of electrical doping. This relationship is not predicted by commonly used transport models for semiconducting polymers and is demonstrated to hold for other semiconducting polymers as well.

Molecular orientation critically influences the mechanical, chemical, optical and electronic properties of organic materials. So far, molecular-scale ordering in soft matter could be characterized with X-ray or electron microscopy techniques only if the sample exhibited sufficient crystallinity. Here, we show that the resonant scattering of polarized soft X-rays (P-SoXS) by molecular orbitals is not limited by crystallinity and that it can be used to probe molecular orientation down to size scales of 10 nm. We first apply the technique on highly crystalline small-molecule thin films and subsequently use its high sensitivity to probe the impact of liquid-crystalline ordering on charge mobility in polymeric transistors. P-SoXS also reveals scattering anisotropy in amorphous domains of all-polymer organic solar cells where interfacial interactions pattern orientational alignment in the matrix phase, which probably plays an important role in the photophysics. The energy and q-dependence of the scattering anisotropy allows the identification of the composition and the degree of orientational order in the domains.

Identifying how small molecular acceptors pack with polymer donors in thin and thick (bulk) films is critical to understanding the nature of electrical doping by charge transfer. In this study, the packing structure of the molecular acceptor tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) with the semiconducting polymer poly­(2,5-bis­(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)­thieno­[3,2-b]­thiophene) (PBTTT-C14) is examined. A combination of solid-state NMR, synchrotron X-ray scattering, and optical spectroscopy was used to determine the packing motif for blends of PBTTT-C14 and F4TCNQ in thin and bulk films. These results indicate that F4TCNQ and PBTTT-C14 order in a cofacial arrangement where charge transfer is near 100% efficient in the solid state. These results provide crucial insights into the structures and compositions of ordered domains in doped semiconducting polymers and suggest a model for the microstructure where the location of the molecular acceptors are correlated rather than randomly dispersed.

A novel strategy for the synthesis of fully conjugated donor-acceptor block copolymers, in a single reaction step employing Stille coupling polymerization of end-functional polythiophene and AA + BB monomers, is presented. The unique donor-acceptor structure of these block copolymers provides a rich self-assembly behavior, with the first example of a fully conjugated donor-acceptor block copolymer having two separate crystalline domains being obtained.

The synthesis and characterization of a new family of soluble oligothiophene‐S,S‐dioxides and their use as building blocks to form polythiophene‐S,S‐dioxides via microwave‐assisted Stille coupling polymerization are described. Incorporation of the sulfone group into the polythiophene backbone leads to narrowing of the polymer bandgap, and while the energies of both Frontier orbitals in polythiophene‐S,S‐dioxide are lower with respect to polythiophenes, this tendency is considerably stronger for the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital than for the highest occupied molecular orbital, resulting in greater electron‐accepting ability. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011