Controlled polymerizations for the synthesis of semiconducting conjugated polymers

Conjugated polymers have been under active development since the 1970s as the active material in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), photovoltaic devices and the emissive layer in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Extensive work has been performed to investigate the physics and chemistry of these materials, and a variety of semiconducting polymers have been synthesized using a range of polymerization techniques. One of the most important key technologies is to obtain a well-controlled polymerization, which provides polymers with narrow polydispersities and defined molecular weights. In this paper, we describe the recent progress on the synthesis of semiconducting polymers as classified as polyphenylenes, polyphenylenevinylenes, polythiophenes, polyfluorene and their block copolymers by the use of controlled polymerizations.