Effect of Backbone Regioregularity on the Structure and Orientation of a Donor–Acceptor Semiconducting Copolymer

A regioregular (RR) donor–acceptor conjugated copolymer based on cyclopenta­[2,1-b:3,4-b′]­dithiophene (CDT) and pyridal­[2,1,3]­thiadiazole (PT) structural units was prepared by using polymerization reactions involving reactants specifically designed to avoid random orientation of the asymmetric PT heterocycle along the copolymer backbone. Compared to its regioirregular (RI) counterpart, the RR polymer exhibits a 2 orders of magnitude increase in hole mobility from 0.005 to 0.6 cm2 V–1 s–1. To probe the reason for this difference in mobility, we examined the crystalline structure and its orientation in thin films of both copolymers as a function of depth via grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS). In the RI film, the π–π stacking direction of the crystallites is mainly perpendicular to the substrate normal (edge-on orientation) while in the RR film the crystallites adopt a mixed π–π stacking orientation in the center of the film as well as near the interface between the polymer and the dielectric layer. These results demonstrate that control of backbone regularity is another important design criterion to consider in the synthesis and optimization of new conjugated copolymers with asymmetric structural units.