Ambipolar Conjugated Polymers with Ultrahigh Balanced Hole and Electron Mobility for Printed Organic Complementary Logic via a Two-Step CH Activation Strategy

Abstract

High mobility ambipolar conjugated polymers are seriously absent regardless their great potential for flexible and printed plastic devices and circuits. Here, ambipolar polymers with ultrahigh balanced hole and electron mobility are developed via a two-step CH activation strategy. Diketopyrrolopyrrole-benzothiadiazole-diketopyrrolopyrrole (DBD) and its copolymers with thiophene/selenophene units (short as PDBD-T and PDBD-Se) are used as examples. PDBD-Se exhibits highly efficient ambipolar transport with hole and electron mobility up to 8.90 and 7.71 cm² V^-1 s^-1 in flexible organic field-effect transistors, presenting a milestone for ambipolar copolymer screening. Based on this performance metrics and good solubility, PDBD-Se is investigated as inkjet-printable semiconductor ink for organic complementary logic circuits. Under ambient processing, maximum hole and electron mobilities reach 6.70 and 4.30 cm² V^-1 s^-1 , respectively. Printed complementary inverter and NAND gates with transition voltages near V_DD /2 are fabricated, providing an easy-handling, general material for printed electronics and logic.

Keywords: CH activation; ambipolar transport; inkjet printing; organic circuits; semiconducting polymers.