Doctoral Researchers

Supervisors: Brigitte Voit, Franziska Lissel, Larysa Baraban

Molecular Organic Semiconductors (OSCs) present a promising alternative to established inorganic materials due to the accessibility of diverse, well-defined and highly regular structures composed of abundant elements. Additionally exhibiting inexpensive solution-processability, OSCs allow the utilization of high-throughput techniques, such as printing, for device fabrication.

The high (electro-)chemical stability and suitable charge-carrier mobilities of oligothiophenes, in combination with facile functionalization routes, render them a convenient class for the exploration and establishment of structure-property relationships.

The aim of this work is the synthesis of dynamic supramolecular structures based on linear all-α-oligothiophenes with varying backbone lengths. Incorporating multiple hydrogen bonding sites on the oligomers allows building crosslinked and responsive networks, and the weak bonding character can potentially enhance resilience towards mechanical deformation as well as conclusively enabling self-healing properties. As minimal changes in the material’s molecular weight upon the introduction of functional groups are favorable in order to maximize the thiophene’s gravimetric capacity, the choice of H-bonding motifs, each composed of donor (D) and acceptor (A) sections, is guided by limiting their size.