3,7-Bis((E)-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-3,7-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-dione (IBDT) based polymer with balanced ambipolar charge transport performance

•A novel acceptor building block, IBDT, is developed.•A IBDT-based polymer has favorable energy levels for ambipolar charge transport.•This polymer shows balanced ambipolar characteristics with electron mobility of 0.14 cm2 V−1 s−1 and hole mobility of 0.10 cm2 V−1 s−1.

A novel acceptor building block, 3,7-bis((E)-2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-3,7-dihydrobenzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-dione (IBDT), is developed to construct a donor-acceptor polymer PIBDTBT-40. This polymer has favorable highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels for balanced ambipolar charge transport. Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) based on this polymer shows well-balanced ambipolar characteristics with electron mobility of 0.14 cm2 V−1 s−1 and hole mobility of 0.10 cm2 V−1 s−1 in bottom-gate bottom-contact devices. This polymer is a promising semiconductor for solution processable organic electronics such as CMOS-like logic circuits.

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