Copolymers of Diketopyrrolopyrrole and Benzothiadiazole: Design and Function from Simulations with Experimental Support

Alternating block copolymers consisting of diketopyrrolopyrrole and benzothiadiazole electron acceptor units linked together via aromatic five-membered donor heterocycles are studied using a combination of computer simulation techniques and experiments. Four copolymers are modeled starting from their monomers to stacked macromolecules: with two different linkers - thiophene or furan, connecting electron-withdrawing core units - and two different alkyl substituents at lactam nitrogens of diketopyrrolopyrrole - linear dodecyl and branched 2-octyldodecyl chains. In our experiments, we aim at characterization of the optical and electrochemical properties of two copolymers with branched side chains differing in the linker, since as the literature survey shows the data published on these copolymers are very sparse. These properties can be easily interpreted and later compared with theoretical predictions. The results of simulations supported by experiments show that monomers of these polymers have very similar electronic and optical properties, and the main difference between them consists in various chain curvature defined by the linker. More curved furan-containing monomers and more stretched thiophene-linked molecules are characterized by different energetics of the stack formation and diverse in charge carrier mobilities. The branching of the side chains affects the planarity of the macromolecules, leads to longer π- π stacking distance and lamellar interval in the ordered arrays of polymers, and defines the stacking patterns of the conjugated backbones. The ambipolar transport is predicted for the majority of considered copolymer morphologies, and a quantitatively satisfactory agreement between experiment and computation is achieved.