Alternating donor-acceptor block copolymers

The interest in org. semiconducting materials for electronic materials applications is highlighted by the desire for easily processible materials that can be fabricated inexpensively on flexible substrates. Donor-acceptor org. materials are of particular interest for their applications in bipolar field effect transistors and solar cells. We have prepd. donor-acceptor materials based on oligothiophenes and perylenebisimides as our donor (p-type) and acceptor (n-type) blocks, resp. Alternating donor-acceptor block copolymers were prepd. via the Stille coupling of a thiophene-functionalized perylenebisimide with a bis(trimethylstannyl)-bithiophene initiator. Since a film morphol. consisting of strong donor-donor/acceptor-acceptor interactions is desired, we have focused our study on the effect of hydrogen bonding to reinforce the strong p-p stacking of \"like\" blocks of oligothiophenes and perylenebisimides. The synthesis of these materials, their surface characterization, photophys. measurements, as well as the performance of these materials in solar cells and bipolar field effect transistors will be presented.