Electron- and Photo-Induced Processes

High speed electron transport in conjugated polymers

The mobility of charges on conjugated polymers is a fundamentally important feature of these materials, but most fall far short of transport that might lead one to call them “molecular wires”. A commonly identified bottleneck is flexible dihedral angles between repeat units. Here we find a very high mobility, μ > 86 cm²/(V s), for electrons attached to polyfluorene polymers in isooctane, despite the presence of varied dihedral angles. The present data suggest that interactions with the surrounding medium may be a principal determinant of charge mobility.

Phys. Chem. Lett. 2019, 10, 171. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b03185