Organic electronics involves materials that are inherently easy to tailor, allowing for functionalities inconceivable before for conventional electronics. In particular, flexibility and robustness toward mechanical stress are now required for many applications such as wearable electronics and flexible/stretchable sensing devices. Despite the fact that solution-processed materials with excellent charge transport (&gt;10 cm<sup>2</sup>/Vs) are now been achieved, these materials (and related devices) can suffer from mechanical stress which limit their use in modern technologies. Thus, new strategies to obtain semiconductors that can tolerate extreme environmental conditions are highly desirable.<br/><br/>This presentation will focus on the recent approaches used by our group to develop and design novel conjugated polymers with both high charge carrier mobility and improved mechanical properties. A recent strategy we utilized relies on the incorporation of hydrogen bonding side-chains in conjugated polymers. Not only the hydrogen bonds can drastically influence the charge transport properties of π-conjugated materials, but these supramolecular interactions can also act as sacrifical bonds upon strain, thus significantly affecting the mechanical properties. The complete characterization of our new conjugated polymers and their utilization in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) will be discussed. Moreover, the influence of hydrogen bonding on molecular stretchability will also be highlighted.

Hydrogen bonding in semiconducting polymers: Effect on self-assembly and mechanical properties

255th National Meeting (2018)

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