Multi-Stimuli-Responsive Field-Effect Transistor with Conjugated Polymer Entailing Spiropyran in the Side Chains

Abstract

Multi-stimuli-responsive field-effect transistors (FETs) with organic/polymeric semiconductors have received increasing attention. Herein, we report a novel strategy for fabricating multi-stimuliresponsive polymeric semiconductors through the incorporation of spiropyran (SP) groups in the polymer side chains. The semiconducting performances of resultant FETs with a diketopyrrolopyrroles (DPP)-based conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) polymer, that entails SP units in the side chains (pDSP-1), could be modulated reversibly through UV and visible light irradiations, or UV light irradiation and heating, or acid treatment and heating. Our studies reveal that during the reversible transformations of closed, open, and the protonated forms of spiropyran, achieved by light irradiations, heating, and under acidic conditions, a large dipole moment changes occur, which triggers the reversible variation of semiconducting performance of the FETs.

An extended quinoid molecule based on bis(thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) with balanced ambipolar semiconducting properties and strong near-infrared absorption

“…Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) derivatives, owing to their strong light absorption and thermal and photochemical stability, as well as good charge transport properties, have been widely explored for developing high performance organic/polymeric semiconductors. 30–41 DPP-based conjugated donor–acceptor polymers have been prepared and found to show p-type, n-type and even ambipolar semiconducting behaviors, depending on the features of the donor units and the connection manner of the donor and DPP units. The hole and electron mobilities of these DPP-based polymeric p- and n-type semiconductors have already exceeded 10 cm 2 V −1 s −1 and 1 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively, 42–44 while the respective hole and electron mobilities of the ambipolar semiconductors have become higher than 8.0 and 4.0 cm 2 V −1 s −1 .…”