Organic thin-film transistors based on thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione conjugated polymer via oxidative polymerization

•TPD-based polymer was synthesized by ferric chloride oxidative polymerization.•Polymer showed excellent thermal stability, good solubility, and deep HOMO energy level.•Polymer had the crystalline grains and ordered structure on the surface.•The hole mobility of polymer-based devices was obtained as high as 0.019 cm−2 V−1 s−1.

Thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD)-based polymer (PDTTPD) with head-to-head (H-H) linkage of 3-dodecylthiophene unit was synthesized by ferric chloride oxidative polymerization. The polymer was characterized by chemical analysis as well as thermal analysis, optical spectroscopy and cyclic voltammeter. PDTTPD polymer showed excellent thermal stability, had significantly red-shifted of absorption edge by its solid film compared to its solution and a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of −5.82 eV. Polymer thin-film microstructures and morphologies were also investigated through atomic force microscope (AFM) and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) which showed that the PDTTPD film is composed of rod-like crystalline grains and ordered structures. Organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) with common architectures were fabricated to evaluate OTFT performance and exhibited the preliminary hole mobility of 0.019 cm−2 V−1 s−1.

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