Spin-Coated Thin Films of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Exhibiting High SCLC Hole Mobilities

Abstract

High charge carrier mobilities have been greatly sought after in the development of cutting-edge organic electronic and optoelectronic devices. Although high field-effect transistor hole mobilities have been reported for solution-processed organic semiconductor thin films, their space-charge-limited current (SCLC) mobilities are still substantially lower. Herein, we report the synthesis and thin film SCLC hole mobilities of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, specifically, 2,5,8,17-tetra-tert-butyldiacenaphtho[1,2-j:1′,2′-l]fluoranthene (1), 2,5,8,11,14,17-hexa-tert-butyldiacenaphtho[1,2-j:1′,2′-l]fluoranthene (2), 2,9,12,15-tetra-tert-butylacenaphtho[1,2-j]benzo[l]fluoranthene (3), and 2,9,12,15-tetra-tert-butyl-4,5,6,7-tetraphenylacenaphtho[1,2-j]benzo[l]fluoranthene (4). Spin-coated pristine thin films of compounds 1–4 exhibit SCLC hole mobilities of 1.18 ± 0.18 × 10–3, 3.8 ± 0.9 × 10–5, 2.00 ± 0.87 × 10–3, and 2.27 ± 0.67 × 10–4 cm2 V–1 s–1, respectively. Upon thermal annealing at 120 °C for 10 min...