Thiophene-containing polymer on sorting semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

Two new thiophene-containing polymers are designed and synthesized successfully for selectively dispersion of high purity (>99%) semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. But the morphologies of carbon nanotube thin films based on the two dispersions are of large difference. We find that alkyl chain not only improved the solubility of polymer-wrapping CNTs but also served as steric hindrance preventing bundling in thin film fabrication process. The obtained thin film transistors are also showing largely different performance, which indirectly reflects the important effect of polymer structure on sorting s-SWCNTs. [Display omitted] •Two novel polymers were synthesized to extract high purity (>99%) of s-SWCNTs.•Alkyl chain can improve the solubility of CNTs and prevent bundling.•PCT-CNT-TFT shows high mobility of 22.06 cm2 V−1 s−1 and on/off ratio of 106.