Polytellurophenes

Abstract

Will polytellurophenes bridge the gap between conjugated polymer and inorganic solid-state semiconductors? Polytellurophenes are a virtually unexplored class of conjugated polymer. In this paper, the synthetic methodologies that have been used to prepare polytellurophenes are chronicled. The properties of the resulting polymers are discussed and their potential for use as electronic materials is evaluated. It is far too early to know if these materials will lead to a useful class of thin-film semiconductors, however some key challenges associated with their synthesis and implementation are outlined. These challenges will need to be addressed as the conjugated polymer research community begins to utilize this area of the periodic table.

Synthesis and Electrical Properties of Covalent Organic Frameworks with Heavy Chalcogens

“…[39][40][41][42][43] Use of heavy chalcogen atoms has been shown to increase charge mobility in organic photovoltaic materials, presumably through the enhanced orbital overlap afforded by the 3p and 4p orbitals of selenium and tellurium atoms, respectively, or through enhanced spin-orbit coupling effects. [44][45][46] Indeed, whereas thiophene-based polymers have larger optical band gaps (1.9 eV in polythiophene vs. 1.5 eV in CdTe 47 ) and much smaller charge mobility values than inorganic semiconductors(0.1 cm 2 ·V -1 ·s in polythiophene vs. 100-1000 cm 2 ·V -1 ·s in indium zinc oxide 48 ), replacing sulfur with selenium reduces the optical band gap to 1.6 eV. [49][50][51] The close stacking of selenium and tellurium is also expected to reduce the impact of disorder in the selfassembly process required for COF synthesis and generate more disperse bands to enhance interchain packing of the framework.…”

Photoluminescent Polytellurophene Derivatives of Conjugated Polymers as a New Perspective for Molecular Electronics

“…Theoretical calculations suggest that polytellurophenes should possess interesting properties for optoelectronic applications. [16][17][18][19] Tellurophene derivatives have a lower oxidation potentials than the selenophenes and thiophenes analogs in series Te < Se < S. [ 20 , 21 ] The fi rst indication of tellurophene poly merization was in 1985 by chemical polymerization on FeCl 3 catalyst. [ 22 ] From that time, there are only a few publication where tellurophene derivatives were polymerized and characterized.…”

“…[ 22 ] From that time, there are only a few publication where tellurophene derivatives were polymerized and characterized. [18][19][20][21][22] The fi rst indication of polytellurophene and polybitellurophene synthesis were done by Otsubo et al, [ 21 ] but conditions of electropolymerization process and lack of characterization of synthesized compound suggested that on the electrode had deposited product of degradation. Very recent review on poly(tellurophenes) and its derivatives was written by Jahnke and Seferos [ 19 ] who are suggesting its potential optoelectronic application.…”

Tellurophenes and Their Emergence as Building Blocks for Polymeric and Light-emitting Materials

“…4,9 Particularly noteworthy within the subject matter of this Highlight Review is the formation of well-defined and soluble poly(3-alkyltellurophene)s. 22 The synthetic routes to these novel macromolecules are outlined in Scheme 4, and first involve a multistep, yet general, synthesis of the 3-alkyltellurophenes 11a 11c, which in one instance can be directly electropolymerized to yield poly(3-hexyltellurophene) (13a). In order to generate larger quantities of these polymers, the requisite 2,5-diiodotellurophene monomers 12a12c can be prepared by stepwise deprotonation/iodination of 11a11c with sec-butyllithium as a base, followed by quenching of the in situ-generated dilithiotellurophenes with iodine; 22 this route affords low, yet reproducible, yields of monomer (e.g.…”

“…3 In this Highlight Review, the emerging chemistry and optoelectronic properties of tellurophenes will be discussed with particular attention given to how synthetic methodology development has led to a renaissance in this area. 4 …”