Tailoring the charge transport characteristics in ordered small-molecule organic semiconductors by side-chain engineering and fluorine substitution

Crystalline and liquid-crystalline conjugated small molecules represent a promising family of semiconductor materials for organic electronics applications. The control of the morphology and optoelectronic properties of small molecules allows tuning their charge transport characteristics and hence, improving the performance of electronic devices. Here, we designed four pentamers based on alternating thiophene and benzothiadiazole moieties and investigated the effect of their structure on the optoelectronic properties, ordering and charge transport characteristics. It is shown that thermal annealing of conjugated pentamers leads to remarkable changes in the microstructure and domain texture of thin films. As a result, an increase in hole mobility for compound M4 by one order of magnitude was achieved. These findings provide a valuable insight into the structure-property relationships for designed small molecules featuring them as promising semiconductor materials for further developing high-performance organic electronics.