skip to main content


Title: Benzobisthiadiazole-based high-spin donor–acceptor conjugated polymers with localized spin distribution
Stable organic semiconductors (OSCs) with a high-spin ground-state can profoundly impact emerging technologies such as organic magnetism, spintronics, and medical imaging. Over the last decade, there has been a significant effort to design π-conjugated materials with unpaired spin centers. Here, we report new donor–acceptor (D–A) conjugated polymers comprising cyclopentadithiophene and cyclopentadiselenophene donors with benzobisthiadiazole (BBT) and iso-BBT acceptors. Density functional theory calculations show that the BBT-based polymers display a decreasing singlet–triplet energy gap with increasing oligomer chain length, with degenerate singlet and triplet states for a N = 8 repeat unit. Furthermore, a considerable distance between the unpaired electrons with a pure diradical character disrupts the π-bond covalency and localizes the unpaired spins at the polymer ends. However, replacing the BBT acceptor with iso-BBT leads to a closed-shell configuration with a low-spin ground-state and a localized spin density on the polymer cores. This study shows the significance of the judicious choice of π-conjugated scaffolds in generating low- ( S = 0) and high-spin ( S = 1) ground-states in the neutral form, by modulation of spin topology in extended π-conjugated D–A polymers for emergent optoelectronic applications.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1757220
NSF-PAR ID:
10251852
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Materials Advances
Volume:
2
Issue:
9
ISSN:
2633-5409
Page Range / eLocation ID:
2943 to 2955
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. High-spin ground-state organic materials with unique spin topology can significantly impact molecular magnetism, spintronics, and quantum computing devices. However, strategies to control the spin topology and alignment of the unpaired spins in different molecular orbitals are not well understood. Here, we report modulating spin distribution along the molecular backbone in high-spin ground-state donor–acceptor (D–A) conjugated polymers. Density functional theory calculations indicate that substitution of different heteroatoms (such as C, Si, N, and Se) alters the aromatic character in the thiadiazole unit of the benzobisthiadiazole (BBT) acceptor and modulates the oligomer length to result in high-spin triplet ground-state, orbital and spin topology. The C, Si, and Se atom substituted polymers show a localized spin density at the two opposite ends of the polymers. However, a delocalized spin distribution is observed in the N substituted polymer. We find that the hybridization (sp 3 vs. sp 2 ) of the substituent atom plays an important role in controlling the electronic structure of these materials. This study shows that atomistic engineering is an efficient technique to tune the spin topologies and electronic configurations in the high-spin ground-state donor–acceptor conjugated polymers, compelling synthetic targets for room-temperature magnetic materials. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Organic semiconductors with high-spin ground states are fascinating because they could enable fundamental understanding on the spin-related phenomenon in light element and provide opportunities for organic magnetic and quantum materials. Although high-spin ground states have been observed in some quinoidal type small molecules or doped organic semiconductors, semiconducting polymers with high-spin at their neutral ground state are rarely reported. Here we report three high-mobility semiconducting polymers with different spin ground states. We show that polymer building blocks with small singlet-triplet energy gap (Δ E S-T ) could enable small Δ E S-T gap and increase the diradical character in copolymers. We demonstrate that the electronic structure, spin density, and solid-state interchain interactions in the high-spin polymers are crucial for their ground states. Polymers with a triplet ground state ( S  = 1) could exhibit doublet ( S  = 1/2) behavior due to different spin distributions and solid-state interchain spin-spin interactions. Besides, these polymers showed outstanding charge transport properties with high hole/electron mobilities and can be both n- and p-doped with superior conductivities. Our results demonstrate a rational approach to obtain high-mobility semiconducting polymers with different spin ground states. 
    more » « less
  3. Conjugated polymers composed of tricoordinate boron and π-conjugated units possess extended conjugation with relatively low-lying LUMOs arising from p B –π interactions. However, donor–acceptor (D–A) polymers that feature triorganoboranes alternating with highly electron-rich donors remain scarce. We present here a new class of hybrid D–A polymers that combine electron-rich dithienosiloles or dithienogermoles with highly robust tricoordinate borane acceptors. Polymers of modest to high molecular weight are readily prepared by Pd-catalyzed Stille coupling reaction of bis(halothienyl)boranes and distannyldithienosiloles or -germoles. The polymers are obtained as dark red solids that are stable in air and soluble in common organic solvents. Long wavelength UV-vis absorptions at ca. 500–550 nm indicate effective π-conjugation and pronounced D–A interactions along the backbone. The emission maxima occur at wavelengths longer than 600 nm in solution and experience further shifts to lower energy with increasing solvent polarity, indicative of strong intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character of the excited state. The powerful acceptor character of the borane comonomer units in the polymer structures is also evident from cyclic voltammetry (CV) analyses that reveal relatively low-lying LUMO levels of the polymers, enhancing the D–A interaction. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on model oligomers further support these experimental observations. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    Singlet fission (SF), a promising mechanism of multiple exciton generation, has only recently been engineered as a fast, efficient, intramolecular process (iSF). The challenge now lies in designing and optimizing iSF materials that can be practically applied in high‐performance optoelectronic devices. However, most of the reported iSF systems, such as those based on donor–acceptor polymers or pentacene, have low triplet energies, which limits their applications. Tetracene‐based materials can overcome significant challenges, as the tetracene triplet state is practically useful, ≈1.2 eV. Here, the synthesis and excited state dynamics of a conjugated tetracene homopolymer are studied. This polymer undergoes ultrafast iSF in solution, generating high‐energy triplets on a sub‐picosecond time scale. Magnetic‐field‐dependent photocurrent measurements of polytetracene‐based devices demonstrate the first example of iSF‐generated triplet extraction in devices, exhibiting the potential of iSF materials for use in next‐generation devices.

     
    more » « less
  5. We report results of large-scale ground-state density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations on t-t-J cylinders with circumferences 6 and 8. We determine a rough phase diagram that appears to approximate the two-dimensional (2D) system. While for many properties, positive and negativetvalues (t/t=±0.2) appear to correspond to electron- and hole-doped cuprate systems, respectively, the behavior of superconductivity itself shows an inconsistency between the model and the materials. Thet<0(hole-doped) region shows antiferromagnetism limited to very low doping, stripes more generally, and the familiar Fermi surface of the hole-doped cuprates. However, we findt<0strongly suppresses superconductivity. Thet>0(electron-doped) region shows the expected circular Fermi pocket of holes around the(π,π)point and a broad low-doped region of coexisting antiferromagnetism and d-wave pairing with a triplet p component at wavevector(π,π)induced by the antiferromagnetism and d-wave pairing. The pairing for the electron low-doped system witht>0is strong and unambiguous in the DMRG simulations. At larger doping another broad region with stripes in addition to weaker d-wave pairing and striped p-wave pairing appears. In a small doping region nearx=0.08fort0.2, we find an unconventional type of stripe involving unpaired holes located predominantly on chains spaced three lattice spacings apart. The undoped two-leg ladder regions in between mimic the short-ranged spin correlations seen in two-leg Heisenberg ladders.

     
    more » « less