Thienothiophene and benzothiadiazole based conjugated donor-acceptor polymers; synthesis, photophysical properties and organic field effect transistor applications

Novel conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) type polymers (P1-P3) possessing thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes (TT) as donors having different functional groups and 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT) as an acceptor were designed and synthesized via palladium-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling reaction. Their electronic and optical properties were investigated by UV–Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies and cylic voltammetry analysis. Organic field-effect transistor (OFET) of the polymers were fabricated using biodegradable and environmental-friendly khaya gum as a high dielectric layer to investigate their charge transport characteristics were at low voltage. All the polymers displayed a p-type field-effect behaviour, among which alkyl chain (C₉H₁₉) substituted P2 exhibited the highest average saturated hole mobility, μ_sat, 0.086 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, on/off current ratio, I_on/I_off = 1.0 × 10³, and subthreshold swing, SS, 425 mV dec⁻¹. The results presented in this work corroborate that the three novel TT-BT polymers have promising potential for electronic and optoelectronic applications, in particular, where tunability of the field-effect behaviour is essential for performance.