The Future Of Electronics Is Flexible

Researchers have developed a new type of organic semiconductor that is both efficient and stable—ideal for next-generation flexible electronics.

AsianScientist (Apr. 29, 2016) – A joint research team from two South Korean universities has developed a new n-type semiconducting polymer with superior electron mobility and oxidative stability. Details of their work were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Polymer semiconductors, which are organic and can be processed on large-area and mechanically flexible substrates with low cost, are essential to developing future plastic electronics. However, existing n-type semiconducting polymers, currently lag behind their inorganic counterparts in two aspects: charge carrier mobility, which refers to how quickly charge carriers—in this case, electrons—can move inside a semiconductor, and chemical stability in ambient air.

To resolve these issues, the team, led by Professor Cho Kilwon from Pohang University of Science and Technology and Professor Kim Yun-Hi from Gyungsang National University, modified a n-type conjugated polymer with semi-fluoroalkyl side chains. These side chains have several unique, desirable properties, such as hydrophobicity, rigidity, thermal stability, chemical and oxidative resistance, and the ability to self-organize.

As a result, the team observed that the modified polymer formed a superstructure composed of polymer backbone crystals and side-chain crystals, in a high degree of semi-crystalline order. The team explained that this phenomenon is attributed to the strong self-organization of the side chains and significantly boosts charge transport in polymer semiconductors.

“We investigated the effects of semi-fluoroalkyl side chains of conjugated polymers at the molecular level and suggested a new strategy to design highly-performing polymeric materials for next-generation plastic electronics,” said Cho.



The article can be found at: Kang et al. (2016) Side-Chain-Induced Rigid Backbone Organization of Polymer Semiconductors through Semifluoroalkyl Side Chains.

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Source: Pohang University of Science and Technology; Photo: Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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