Thiazole-Flanked Diketopyrrolopyrrole Polymeric Semiconductors for Ambipolar Field-Effect Transistors with Balanced Carrier Mobilities

In this paper we report three thiazole-flanked diketopyrrolopyrrole-based donor–acceptor alternating copolymers as new ambipolar semiconductors and their field-effect transistor devices with balanced hole and electron mobilities. Nitrile groups are introduced into the polymer backbone, and the substituent effect on electronic structures is studied. Different side chains are also involved to tune the interdigitation of the polymers. To probe the structural effects that contribute to the device performances, we provide insight into the thin-film microstructures and morphologies. Top-gate bottom-contact transistors fabricated under ambient conditions exhibit the impressive balanced hole and electron mobilities as high as 1.46 and 1.14 cm 2 V –1 s –1, respectively, which are among the highest values reported for ambipolar thiazole-flanked diketopyrrolopyrrole-based polymers. Additionally, this class of ambipolar polymers also shows promise for complementary-like inverters with a high gain value of 163.