The Role of the Side Chain on the Performance of N-type Conjugated Polymers in Aqueous Electrolytes
- Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemistry, Dept. of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics
- Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemistry
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
- Mines ParisTech, CMP-EMSE, Paris (France). Dept. of Bioelectronics
- King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia). Physical Sciences and Engineering Division and KAUST Solar Center (KSC)
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
- King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia). Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering
- Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Inst.; National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Inst. and Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry; National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Chemistry and Nanoscience Center
- Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Electrical Engineering Division
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Biomedical Engineering and Simpson Querry Inst. for BioNanotechnology
- Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemistry; King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia). Physical Sciences and Engineering Division and KAUST Solar Center (KSC)
Here, we report a design strategy that allows the preparation of solution processable n-type materials from low boiling point solvents for organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). The polymer backbone is based on NDI-T2 copolymers where a branched alkyl side chain is gradually exchanged for a linear ethylene glycol-based side chain. A series of random copolymers was prepared with glycol side chain percentages of 0, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, and 100 with respect to the alkyl side chains. These were characterized to study the influence of the polar side chains on interaction with aqueous electrolytes, their electrochemical redox reactions, and performance in OECTs when operated in aqueous electrolytes. We observed that glycol side chain percentages of >50% are required to achieve volumetric charging, while lower glycol chain percentages show a mixed operation with high required voltages to allow for bulk charging of the organic semiconductor. A strong dependence of the electron mobility on the fraction of glycol chains was found for copolymers based on NDI-T2, with a significant drop as alkyl side chains are replaced by glycol side chains.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division; BASF SE, Ludwigshafen (Germany); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); European Research Council (ERC); European Union (EU); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308; EP/P02484X/1; EP/G037515/1; EP/M005143/1; EP/N509486/1; EC FP7 Project SC2 (610115); EC H2020 Project SOLEDLIGHT (643791); 742708
- OSTI ID:
- 1440398
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-71212
- Journal Information:
- Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 9; ISSN 0897-4756
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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