Synthesis and electrical properties of novel oligothiophenes partially containing 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophenes

Abstract

Five sorts of soluble oligothiophenes (trimer to undecamer) containing 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) were synthesized, and their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated in relation to the chain length of oligothiophenes and the number of EDOT units. The introduction of the EDOT unit into a main oligothienylene unit induced a red shift of absorption bands and a negative shift of oxidation potentials. The conductivity of an electrochemically oxidized film of undecamer was found to be around 1 S cm⁻¹. A thin-film field effect transistor was preliminary fabricated with neutral undecamer films and the hole mobility was determined.