Electron transporting semiconducting polymers in organic electronics

Abstract

Significant progress has been achieved in the preparation of semiconducting polymers over the past two decades, and successful commercial devices based on them are slowly beginning to enter the market. However, most of the conjugated polymers are hole transporting, or p-type, semiconductors that have seen a dramatic rise in performance over the last decade. Much less attention has been devoted to electron transporting, or n-type, materials that have lagged behind their p-type counterparts. Organic electron transporting materials are essential for the fabrication of organic p-n junctions, organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), n-channel organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and complementary logic circuits. In this critical review we focus upon recent developments in several classes of electron transporting semiconducting polymers used in OLEDs, OFETs and OPVs, and survey and analyze what is currently known concerning electron transporting semiconductor architecture, electronic structure, and device performance relationships (87 references).

Structure and Morphology Control in Thin Films of Conjugated Polymers for an Improved Charge Transport

“…Secondly, inserting acceptor moieties as n-type units [i.e., diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP), naphthalene-bis(dicarboximide) (NDI), etc.] into p-type moieties has become a very efficient strategy to synthesize more conjugated polymers by employing the intense intra-and inter-chain donor-acceptor interactions recently [11,86,[99][100][101][102][103]. Take DPP unit for an example, the combination of DPP and thiophene, that is, dithienyl-DPPs, show excellent planarity with a small torsion of only 12 degrees due to both the intense donor-acceptor interaction via electron transfer and the favorable intra-molecular S-O interaction [11].…”

Roll‐Coated Fabrication of Fullerene‐Free Organic Solar Cells with Improved Stability

“…Fullerene‐free OSCs (FF‐OSCs)9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 are composed of a p‐type semiconducting polymer or small molecule as an electron donor and an n‐type semiconducting nonfullerene polymer or small molecule as an electron acceptor. Compared with fullerene acceptors, nonfullerene acceptors present some advantages, such as broad and strong absorption, adjustable LUMO energy levels, and long‐term stability.…”

Bright conjugated polymer nanoparticles containing a biodegradable shell produced at high yields and with tuneable optical properties by a scalable microfluidic device

“…Cyano-substituted poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (CN-PPV) is a conjugated polymer that was first developed as a highelectron-affinity polymer for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) 12 . It has a planar backbone with long alkoxy side groups 13 and strong electron withdrawing cyano (CN) groups that lead to strong intermolecular interactions [14][15][16] . The red or near-infrared luminescence emission 16 of CN-PPV-based materials led to their use in cell labelling [17][18][19] , protein The material composition of CPNs influences their properties in biological fluids and cell culture media.…”