Expanding the Scope of Thiophene Based Semiconductors: Perfluoroalkylated Materials and Fused Thienoacenes
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Expanding the Scope of Thiophene Based Semiconductors: Perfluoroalkylated Materials and Fused Thienoacenes Hayden Thompson Black A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Chemistry Chapel Hill 2012 Approved By: Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby Dr. James Cahoon Dr. Carrie Donley Dr. Wei You Dr. Malcolm Forbes ABSTRACT HAYDEN THOMPSON BLACK: Expanding the Scope of Thiophene Based Semiconductors: Perfluoroalkylated Materials and Fused thienoacenes (Under the direction of Valerie Sheares Ashby) Thiophene based semiconductors with new molecular and macromolecular structures were explored for applications in field effect transistors. Perfluoroalkylation was studied both as a means for controlling the self-assembly properties of polythiophenes, as well as modifying the molecular orbital energies of a series of oligothiophenes. End-perfluoroalkylation of poly(3-hexylthiophene) resulted in interesting self-assembly of the polymer into a bilayer vesicle. Similar fluorophilic assembly may be useful for controlling blend morphologies in heterojunction based devices. On the other hand, perfluoroalkylation of small molecule thiophene semiconductors leads to low lying LUMO levels, and can be used to promote electron injection for n-type transistor devices. This strategy was employed in combination with a π-electron deficient benzothiadiazole to afford a new n-type semiconductor with an exceptionally low LUMO. Monoperfluoroalkylated oligothiophenes were also synthesized and studied in field effect transistors for the first time. In addition, two new fused thienoacene compounds were synthesized and their crystal structures were analyzed. The fused compounds showed exceptional π-π stacking and assembled into well defined one-dimensional microcrystals from the vapor phase. Field effect transistors were fabricated employing the new thienoacenes, showing p-type conductivity with equivalent charge carrier mobilities. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, for always supporting my endeavors iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous help I received along the way. I would first like to thank my advisor Prof. Valerie Ashby for her support and guidance throughout the years. Her trust in my visions helped make my graduate research a truly wonderful experience. In addition, the Ashby group members helped make the years of research fun and light-hearted. A number of other people heped make this dream possible. I owe many thanks to Dr. Shubin Liu for his help with density functional calculations throughout the years. I would also like to thank Dr. Peter White for help with x-ray crystallography experiments. I thank Prof. Dmitrii Perepichka at McGill University for accepting me into his laboratory for a collaborative effort focusing on device fabrication of perfluoroalkylated oligothiophenes. It was a pleasure to work with one of his students, Afshin Dadvand, with whom I shared many fruitful discussions. A large portion of this work was performed within the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratories (CHANL) with help from the wonderful CHANL staff. I owe thanks to Amar Kumbhar for help with SEM and TEM imaging, Bob Geil for help with microfabrication techniques, and Carrie Donley for help with XPS and UPS experiments. Lastly I would like to thank my family and friends for their constant support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... x LIST OF SCHEMES ...................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...........................................................................................xiv LIST OF SYMBOLS ......................................................................................................xvi Chapter 1. An introduction to Organic Semiconductors and Field Effect Transistors ....... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Applications of Organic Field Effect Transistors ............................................. 2 1.3 OFET Device Fabrication ............................................................................... 5 1.4 OFET Operation and Electrical Characterization ............................................ 6 1.5 Charge Transport in OFETs ........................................................................... 8 1.6 Organic Semiconductors Used in OFETs ..................................................... 11 1.6.1 Oligomer/Small Molecule Materials ............................................... 12 1.6.2 Polymeric Materials ....................................................................... 18 v 1.7 Outlook ........................................................................................................ 23 References ........................................................................................................ 25 Chapter 2. Self-Assembly of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) via End-Group Modification ......... 30 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 30 2.2 Synthesis ..................................................................................................... 32 2.3 Characterization ........................................................................................... 34 2.4 Thermal Properties ...................................................................................... 38 2.5 Optical/Electrochemical Properties .............................................................. 40 2.6 Morphological/Self-Assembly Properties ...................................................... 41 2.7 Blend Studies .............................................................................................. 45 2.8 Field Effect Transistor Characterization ....................................................... 48 2.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 50 2.10 Experimental .............................................................................................. 51 References ........................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 3. Solution Processable Oligothiophenes for Field Effect Transistors............... 57 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 57 vi 3.2 Synthesis and Characterization ................................................................... 58 3.3 Thermal Properties ...................................................................................... 60 3.4 Optical/Electrochemical Properties .............................................................. 62 3.5 Density Functional Theory Calculations ....................................................... 65 3.6 Morphological Properties ............................................................................. 68 3.7 Field Effect Transistor Characterization ....................................................... 72 3.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 75 3.9 Experimental ................................................................................................ 76 Appendix ........................................................................................................... 80 References ........................................................................................................ 83 Chapter 4. Tuning Frontier Molecular Orbital Energies via α,ω-Perfluoroalkylation: P-type vs. N-type Conductivity in Perfluoroalkylated Oligothiophenes ........................... 85 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 85 4.2 Synthesis ..................................................................................................... 87 4.3 Thermal Properties ...................................................................................... 89 4.4 Optical Properties ........................................................................................ 91 4.5 Electrochemical Properties .......................................................................... 93 4.6 Density Functional Theory Calculations ....................................................... 95 vii 4.7 Field Effect Transistor Characterization ....................................................... 99 4.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 104 4.9 Experimental .............................................................................................. 105 Appendix ......................................................................................................... 109 References ...................................................................................................... 114 Chapter 5. Synthesis, Crystal Structures, and Electronic Properties of Nonlinear Fused Thienoacene Semiconductors .........................................................................