title: Bithiazole: An Intriguing Electron-Deficient Building for Plastic Electronic Applications.
abstract: The heterocyclic thiazole unit has been extensively used as electron-deficient building block in π-conjugated materials over the last decade. Its incorporation into organic semiconducting materials is particularly interesting due to its structural resemblance to the more commonly used thiophene building block, thus allowing the optoelectronic properties of a material to be tuned without significantly perturbing its molecular structure. Here, we discuss the structural differences between thiazole- and thiophene-based organic semiconductors, and the effects on the physical properties of the materials. An overview of thiazole-based polymers is provided, which have emerged over the past decade for organic electronic applications and it is discussed how the incorporation of thiazole has affected the device performance of organic solar cells and organic field-effect transistors. Finally, in conclusion, an outlook is presented on how thiazole-based polymers can be incorporated into all-electron deficient polymers in order to obtain high-performance acceptor polymers for use in bulk-heterojunction solar cells and as organic field-effect transistors. Computational methods are used to discuss some newly designed acceptor building blocks that have the potential to be polymerized with a fused bithiazole moiety, hence propelling the advancement of air-stable n-type organic semiconductors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University at Qatar, P.O. Box 23874, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Haw-Lih
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University at Qatar, P.O. Box 23874, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Dusan N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Sredojevic
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London, London, WC1H 0AJ, UK.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bronstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Materials Research Center, and Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois, 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Tobin J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.affiliation: Materials Research Institute and School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK.
authors.forename: Bob C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University at Qatar, P.O. Box 23874, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Hashimi
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers; D012666:Semiconductors / Q000639:trends*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D011108:Polymers; D013844:Thiazoles
keywords: acceptor building blocks; bithiazole-based polymers; organic field-effect transistors (OFETs); organic photovoltaics (OPV); π-conjugated materials