Conformation sensitive charge transport in conjugated polymers

Temperature dependent charge carrier mobility measurements using field effect transistors and density functional theory calculations are combined to show how the conformation dependent frontier orbital delocalization influences the hole-and electron mobilities in a donor-acceptor based polymer. A conformationally sensitive lowest unoccupied molecular orbital results in an electron mobility that decreases with increasing temperature above room temperature, while a conformationally stable highest occupied molecular orbital is consistent with a conventional hole mobility behavior and also proposed to be one of the reasons for why the material works well as a hole transporter in amorphous bulk heterojunction solar cells. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.