Boronic Acid-Based n-Type Semiconductor for Electronic Device Application

Electron transporting, or n -type, semiconductors can serve as charge-transport materials, and are ideal for use in organic electronic devices. Boron-based small organic molecules have garnered immense research attention as the heteroatom can effectively alter the electronic structures leading to excellent photophysical and electrochemical properties. A luminescent Schiff base ( E )-(4-((2-(2-hydroxybenzoyl)hydrazono)methyl)phenyl)boronic acid (SHB) was prepared by a one-pot condensation reaction between salicyloyl hydrazide and formylphenylboronic acid. The synthesized molecule was chemically characterized by infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The blue-emitting boronic acid-derived molecule displayed intramolecular charge transfer, high carrier concentration, good thermal stability, a reversible reduction tendency and formation of uniform amorphous thin films. A diode was successfully fabricated via a solution processing technique with an ideality factor of 7.76. Further, AC conductivity, dielectric constant, dielectric loss, and capacitance values in a frequency range of 10–1000 Hz were extracted from dielectric studies. The dielectric constant of SHB was found to be 9.71 with an AC conductivity of 6.34 × 10 −9 Ω −1 cm −1 at 1000 Hz. Graphical Abstract