n-type building blocks for organic electronics: A homologous family of fluorocarbon-substituted thiophene oligomers with high carrier mobility

A substantial enhancement of thermal stability, volatility, and electron affinity, switching the semiconducting behavior from p- to n-type, is achieved by fluoroalkyl substitution of thiophene oligomers (see Figure). When this novel series is compared with the fluorine-free analogues, trends in molecular packing, optical absorption, HOMO-LUMO gap, and pi-pi interactions are found to be strikingly similar.