New amorphous semiconducting copolymers containing fluorene and thiophene moieties for organic thin-film transistors

New amorphous semiconducting materials consisting of fluorene-based thiophene copolymers, poly(2-(5-(9,9-dibutyl-9 H-fluoren-2-yl)-3-hexylthiophen-2-yl)-5-(3-hexylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) P1 and poly(2-(5-(9,9-dibutyl-9 H-fluoren-2-yl)-4-hexylthiophen-2-yl)-5-(4-hexylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) P2, have been successfully synthesized via a palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction. The number-average molecular weights (Mn) of P1 and P2 were found to be 18 300, and 15 800, respectively. These polymers dissolve in common organic solvents such as chloroform, chlorobenzene, and toluene. The UV-vis absorption maxima of P1 and P2 appeared at 436 and 427 nm in solution and 441 and 431 nm in the film state, respectively. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed no reflection peaks indicating amorphous collections of randomly oriented polymer chains. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of P1 and P2 showed amorphous film morphologies. Field-effect transistor mobilities of stable amorphous OTFTs of P1 and P2 under ambient conditions have been achieved up to 5.4 × 10−4 cm2V−1 s−1 and 1.6 × 10−4 cm2V−1 s−1, respectively. The high stability and mobility of fluorene-based thiophene copolymers in the amorphous state make them a new family of promising candidates for organic thin-film transistors.