"Conformation locked" strong electron-deficient poly(p-phenylene vinylene) derivatives for ambient-stable n-type field-effect transistors: synthesis, properties, and effects of fluorine substitution position.

The charge carrier mobility of p-type and ambipolar polymer field-effect transistors (FETs) has been improved substantially. Nonetheless, high-mobility n-type polymers are rare, and few can be operated under ambient conditions. This situation is mainly caused by the scarcity of strong electron-deficient building blocks. Herein, we present two novel electron-deficient building blocks, FBDOPV-1 and FBDOPV-2, with low LUMO levels down to -4.38 eV. On the basis of both building blocks, we develop two poly(p-phenylene vinylene) derivatives (PPVs), FBDPPV-1 and FBDPPV-2, for high-performance n-type polymer FETs. The introduction of the fluorine atoms effectively lowers the LUMO levels of both polymers, leading to LUMO levels as low as -4.30 eV. Fluorination endows both polymers with not only lower LUMO levels, but also more ordered thin-film packing, smaller π-π stacking distance, stronger interchain interaction and locked conformation of polymer backbones. All these factors provide FBDPPV-1 with high electron mobilities up to 1.70 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and good stability under ambient conditions. Furthermore, when polymers have different fluorination positions, their backbone conformations in solid state differ, eventually leading to different device performance.