High-Performance Furan-Containing Conjugated Polymer for Environmentally Benign Solution Processing

Developing semiconducting polymers that exhibit both strong charge transport capability via highly ordered structures and good processability in environmentally benign solvents remains a challenge. Given that furan-based materials have better solubility in various solvents than analogous thiophene-based materials, we have synthesized and characterized furanyl-diketopyrrolopyrrole polymer (PFDPPTT-Si) together with its thienyl-diketopyrrolopyrrole-based analogue (PTDPPTT-Si) to understand subtle changes induced by the use of furan instead of thiophene units. PTDPPTT-Si films processed in common chlorinated solvent exhibit a higher hole mobility (3.57 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) than PFDPPTT-Si films (2.40 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) under the same conditions; this greater hole mobility is a result of tightly aggregated π-stacking structures in PTDPPTT-Si. By contrast, because of its enhanced solubility, PFDPPT…