This thesis is concerned with study of vibrational dynamics and their effect on charge transport in thin films of organic semiconductors. Two classes of organic semiconductors are investigated- crystalline small molecules and conjugated polymers. Although device performance of both classes of materials has greatly improved over last two decades, detailed understanding of relationship between structure and transport properties is still missing- so far development of organic semiconductors has mostly been based on experimental approach, with theoretical models providing post factum justification rather than guiding rational design of novel compounds. In this thesis I establish methodology to investigate both inter- and intramolecular vibrational modes by combining latest computational techniques with experimental pressure-dependent Raman spectroscopy. The dominant factor limiting charge delocalization in crystalline small molecules are low frequency, large amplitude intermolecular modes. However, theoretical modeling of these modes require use of periodic boundary conditions increasing computational cost by orders of magnitude when compared to commonly used vacuum phase simulations. I report comparative study of two implementations (CRYSTAL09 and CASTEP) of density functional theory (DFT) and dispersion correction (Grimme and Tkatchenko-Scheffler) and evaluate their applicability to predict low frequency vibrational modes in 2,7-Dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C8-BTBT) and 2,8-Difl uoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (dif-TES-ADT). Charge transport in conjugated polymers is strongly affected by energetic disorder arising from spatial variations in backbone conformation. I combine vacuum phase DFT simulations of intramolecular vibrational modes with pressure-dependent Raman spectroscopy to study planarity and torsional backbone disorder of 2,5-bis(3-alkylthiophene-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (pBTTT), indacenodithiophene-co-benzo-thiadiazole (IDT-BT), diketopyrrolopyrrole-benzotriazole (DPP-BTZ) and naphtalene-bithiophene (NDI-T2) at pressures up to 3.9 GPa. It is shown that Raman spectra of pBTTT and NDI-T2 demonstrate dependence of mode intensities on hydrostatic pressure, whereas spectra of IDT-BT and DPP-BTZ exhibit lack of dependence. Simulations of theoretical spectra performed as a function of backbone torsion indicate that pBTTT undergoes deplanarization of already non-planar backbone and that NDI-T2 backbone is planarized, whereas backbones of IDT-BT and DPP-BTZ are resilient to changes of conformation. Finally, I perform large scale molecular dynamics simulations of crystalline, semi-crystalline and disordered phases of IDT-BT and DPP-BT in order to investigate effect of disorder on backbone conformation. Both compounds were previously reported to exhibit extremely low degree of energetic disorder- I assign this phenomenon to their surprisingly strong resilience to side chain disorder. In both systems simulations demonstrate novel mechanism of disorder accommodation- their backbones bend rather than twist and retain low degree of torsional variation even in amorphous phase.

The re-emergence of interest in organic semiconducting small molecules and polymers during past several decades can be attributed to their advantage of utility, flexibility, ease of access, and turnability over silicon based inorganic semiconductors. The library of organic semiconductors containing p-type (hole conducting) and n-type (electron conducting) materials have grown in numbers and efficiency. The p-type semiconducting materials hold an advantage over n-type materials owing to their stability and ease of synthesis. The widespread use of fullerenes (C60 and C70) as n-type materials in organic photovoltaics OPVs and their known downsides of poor absorption in visible and NIR region and limited charge carrier transport have triggered the development of non-fullerene based electron accepting (NFEA) materials . By taking advantage of the electron accepting behavior of cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylene fragment of C70, we have synthesized a new class of cyclopentafused polyaromatic hydrocarbons (CP-PAHs). These new contorted CP-PAHs have been prepared utilizing the modified version of our previously developed palladium catalyzed cyclopentannulation strategy. The target molecules broaden the scope of annulation chemistry to 1,2-bis(5-hexylthiophen-3-yl)ethyne with aryl dibromo derivatives of anthracene, pyrene and perylene to yield 4,4',4'',4'''-(cyclopenta[hi]aceanthrylene-1,2,6,7-tetrayl)tetrakis(2-hexylthiophene), 4,4',4'',4'''-(dicyclopenta[cd,jk]pyrene-1,2,6,7-tetrayl)tetrakis(2-hexylthiophene) and 1,2,7,8-tetrakis(5-hexylthiophen-3-yl)-1,2,7,8-tetrahydrodicyclopenta[cd,lm]perylene. Scholl cyclodehydrogenation of the cyclopentafused thiophene units with suitably substituted hydrocarbons chains provided access to p-extended polyaromatic systems including 2,5,11,14-tetrahexylrubiceno[5,4-b:6,7-b':12,11-b'':13,14-b''']tetrathiophene, 2,5,11,14-tetrahexyldithieno-[4,5:6,7]indeno[1,2,3-cd]dithieno[4,5:6,7]indeno-[1,2,3-jk]pyrene, and 2,9,12,19-tetrahexyldithieno[4,5:6,7]indaceno[1,2,3-cd]dithieno[4,5:6,7]indaceno[1,2,3-lm]perylene. The fully conjugated p-electronic core of these small molecules provide low optical band gaps, decent mobilities and broad absorption. The HOMO and LUMO energies of these CP-PAHs were found to be in the range of -5.48 to -5.05 eV and -3.48 to -3.14 eV, respectively. Besides showing broad band absorption features, some derivative were found to operate as a p-type semiconductor when tested in organic field effect transistors. Anthradithiophene (ADT) is an isoelectronic analogue of pentacene and became a point of interest. A soluble, and functionalizable ADT derivative, 5,11-dibromoanthradithiophene was prepared and then polymerized utilizing Stille, Sonogashira and Yamamoto cross coupling strategies. The newly developed ADT polymers were found to operate in p-type regime when tested in organic field effect transistors. To explore the effects of solvent on growing polymer chains in step-growth polymerizations, we developed a library of Yamamoto and Glaser polymers. The hypothesis tested was that growing polymer chains can recruit further monomer units to create block character in the growing polymer chains. Our investigations reveals that the solvent conditions altering the polarity of the reaction mixture can cause up to 40% preference of blockiness in the growing polymer chains.

Organic semiconductors have witnessed a prolific boom for their potential in the manufacturing of lightweight, flexible, and even biocompatible electronics. One of the fields of research that has yet to benefit from organic semiconductors is high temperature electronics. The lightweight nature and robust processability is attractive for applications such as aerospace engineering, which require high temperature stability, but little has been reported on taking such a leap because charge transport is temperature dependent and commonly unstable at elevated temperatures in organics. Historically, mechanistic studies have been bound to low temperature regimes where structural disorders are minimal in most materials. Discussed here is a blending approach to render semiconducting polymer thin films thermally stable in unprecedented operation temperature ranges for organic materials. We found that by utilizing highly rigid host materials, semiconducting polymer domains could be confined, thus improving their molecular and microstructural ordering, and a thermally stable charge transport could be realized up to 220°C. With this blending approach, all-plastic high temperature electronics that are extremely stable could also be demonstrated. In efforts to establish a universal route towards forming thermally stable semiconducting blends, we found that the molecular weight of conjugated polymer plays a crucial role on the miscibility of the blends. Finally, we found that the choice of the host matrix ought to consider the charge trapping nature of the insulator.<br>

The discovery of conducting and semiconducting polymers has opened the possibility to produce integrated circuits entirely of plastic with standard continuous printing techniques. Nowadays several of this polymers are commercial available, however the performances of this materials are strongly affected by their supramolecular order achieved after deposition. In this research, the influence of some standard printing techniques on the electrical performances of conjugated polymers is evidenced in order to realise logic devices with these materials.

The discovery of conducting and semiconducting polymers has opened the possibility to produce integrated circuits entirely of plastic with standard continuous printing techniques. Nowadays several of this polymers are commercial available, however the performances of this materials are strongly affected by their supramolecular order achieved after deposition. In this research, the influence of some standard printing techniques on the electrical performances of conjugated polymers is evidenced in order to realise logic devices with these materials.