Heavy-Atom Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Polymers

Heavy-atom substitution chemistry in donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers has gained increasing attention in the past few years. Overall, the introduction of heavy atoms (below C in group 14; below N in group 15; below S in group 16) into D-A conjugated polymers allows control over properties through relatively straightforward synthetic chemistry, and produces materials with high molecular weights (>20 000 g mol(-1)), strong absorption (epsilon approximate to 40 000 L mol(-1) cm(-1)), narrow highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gaps (<1 eV), as well as high charge-carrier mobility (>10(-2) cm(2) V-1 s(-1)). This Trend article aims to describe heavy-atom substitution effects in D-A polymers, and their applications, by systematically examining representative polymer structures.