Linking Glass-Transition Behavior to Photophysical and Charge Transport Properties of High-Mobility Conjugated Polymers

The measurement of the mechanical properties of conjugated polymers can reveal highly relevant information linking optoelectronic properties to underlying microstructures and the knowledge of the glass transition temperature (Tg) is paramount for informing the choice of processing conditions and for interpreting the thermal stability of devices. In this work, we use dynamical mechanical analysis to determine the Tg of a range of state-of-the-art conjugated polymers with different degrees of crystallinity that are widely studied for applications in organic field-effect transistors. We compare our measured values for Tg to the theoretical value predicted by a recent work based on the concept of effective mobility ζ. The comparison shows that for conjugated polymers with a modest length of the monomer units, the Tg values agree well with theoretically predictions. However, for the near-amorphous, indacenodithiophene–benzothiadiazole family of polymers with more extended backbone units, values for Tg appear to be significantly higher, predicted by theory. However, values for Tg are correlated with the sub-bandgap optical absorption suggesting the possible role of the interchain short contacts within materials’ amorphous domains.