Lactone backbone density in rigid electron-deficient semiconducting polymers enabling high n-type organic thermoelectric performance

Journal article

Three lactone-based rigid semiconducting polymers were designed to overcome major limitations in the development of n-type organic thermoelectrics, namely electrical conductivity and air stability. Experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrated that increasing the lactone group density by increasing the benzene content from 0 % benzene (P-0), to 50 % (P-50), and 75 % (P-75) resulted in progressively larger electron affinities (up to 4.37 eV), suggesting a more favorable doping process, when employing (N-DMBI) as the dopant. Larger polaron delocalization was also evident, due to the more planarized conformation, which is proposed to lead to a lower hopping energy barrier. As a consequence, the electrical conductivity increased by three orders of magnitude, to achieve values of up to 12 S cm and Power factors of 13.2 μWm−1 K−2 were thereby enabled. These findings present new insights into material design guidelines for the future development of air stable n-type organic thermoelectrics.

Authors: Alsufyani, M; Stoeckel, M-A; Chen, X; Thorely, K; Hallani, RK

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Angewandte Chemie International Edition
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 7
• Article number: e202113078
• Publication date: 2021-12-18
• Acceptance date: 2021-11-18
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202113078
• EISSN: 1521-3773
• ISSN: 1433-7851
• Pmid: 34797584
• Language: English
• Keywords: rigid semiconducting polymers; synthetic methods; FFR; chemical doping; metal-free polymerization; organic thermoelectrics