Thiophene-Based Organic Semiconductors

Thiophene-based π-conjugated organic small molecules and polymers are the research subject of significant current interest owing to their potential use as organic semiconductors in material chemistry. Despite simple and similar molecular structures, the hitherto reported properties of thiophene-based organic semiconductors are rather diverse. Design of high performance organic semiconducting materials requires a thorough understanding of inter- and intra-molecular interactions, solid-state packing, and the influence of both factors on the charge carrier transport. In this chapter, thiophene-based organic semiconductors, which are classified in terms of their chemical structures and their structure–property relationships, are addressed for the potential applications as organic photovoltaics (OPVs), organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).