Donor-Acceptor Polymers With Tunable Infrared Photoresponse

Authors

Alexander E. London, University of Southern Mississippi
Lifeng Huang, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Benjamin A. Zhang, University of Southern MississippiFollow
M. Belén Oviedo, University of California Riverside
Joshua Tropp, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Weichuan Yao, University of California San Diego
Zhenghui Wu, University of California San DiegoFollow
Bryan M. Mong, University of California Riverside
Tse Nga Ng, University of California San DiegoFollow
Jason D. Azoulay, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-17-2017

School

Polymer Science and Engineering

Abstract

Donor–acceptor (DA) conjugated polymers provide an important platform for the development of solution-processed optoelectronic devices. The complex interrelation between electronic properties and conformational disorder in these materials complicates the identification of design guidelines to control the bandgap at low energies, limiting the design of new optoelectronic and device functionalities. Here, we demonstrate that DA polymers comprised of exocyclic olefin substituted cyclopentadithiophene donors, in combination with conventional electron acceptors, display very narrow optical bandgaps (1.2 > E^opt_g > 0.7 eV) and primary photoexcitations extending into the shortwave infrared. Theoretical calculations reveal fundamental structure–property relationships toward bandgap and energy level control in these spectral regions. Bulk heterojunction photodiodes fabricated using these new materials demonstrate a detectivity (D*) of > 10¹¹ Jones within a spectral range of 0.6–1.43 μm and measurable D* to 1.8 μm, the longest reported to date for conjugated polymer based systems.

Publication Title

Polymer Chemistry

Volume

8

First Page

2922

Last Page

2930

Recommended Citation

London, A. E., Huang, L., Zhang, B. A., Oviedo, M., Tropp, J., Yao, W., Wu, Z., Mong, B. M., Ng, T. N., Azoulay, J. D. (2017). Donor-Acceptor Polymers With Tunable Infrared Photoresponse. Polymer Chemistry, 8, 2922-2930.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/16940