Incorporating selenium into a polymer backbone can improve the polymer’s electron transport and could lead to improved organic electronics, reports scientists from the UK and Australia.
Ambipolar conjugated polymers, which can transport both holes and electrons, are of great interest as a method to mimic silicon-based logic circuits. Thiophene copolymers have been shown to be good hole transporters but are let down by their ability to transport electrons.
Replacing thiophene with selenophene results in a significant reduction in polymer band gap, enabling the polymers to effectively transport electrons as well as holes. The resulting polymers display one of the highest hole mobilities reported for any device structure.
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