A theoretical investigation of low energy band gap polymers: polythiophene systems

Abstract

Recently, the organic synthesis and electronic device applications of π-conjugated polymer-based materials with low energy band gap (below 2 eV) and high values of incident photon to current efficiency have been presented. In the present study, the physical properties of polythiophene (PTH) and its derivative systems (PTs) were investigated as π-conjugated low energy band gap polymers. Density functional theory with periodic boundary condition (PBC), the B3LYP functional, and the 6-31G(d) basis set was applied to determine their geometric and electronic structures and corresponding energies (E HOMO, E LUMO, and E g = E LUMO − E HOMO) from the monomer of thiophene and its derivatives for one-dimensional (1D) extension to polymer. The effects of 3-substitution in PTs including electron-donating (CH3–, C6H13–, OH–, Cl–, OCH3–, and CHO–) and electron-withdrawing groups (Cl–, CHO–, CN–, NO2–, CF3–, and COOH–) compared with PTH were investigated. According to the calculation results, PTs with electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents should exhibit red- and blue-shifts, respectively, compared with PTH. These calculation results show good agreement with experimental data and provide further information for molecular design considerations.