Abstract
SynopsisCompounds with π-electron systems linked by an organosilicon unit are of current interest, because of their use, such as for emissive and carrier-transporting materials. The author and coworkers have reported the potential applications of polymers having silicon-linked oligothiophene units as hole-transporting materials of organic EL devices. Recently, these types of the compounds were found to be usable as active components of organic FETs (fi eld eff ect transistors). Of these, star-shaped compounds with three oligothiophene groups linked by an organosilicon core showed high FET activity with the maximum mobility of 0.064 cm2/Vs.It was also demonstrated that polymers composed of alternating oligothiophene and disilane units readily underwent reactions with TiO2 surface under UV irradiation to form polymer-attached TiO2 electrodes that were applicable to DSSCs (dye-sensitized solar cells). Interestingly, the polymers formed hybrid materials with SWNT (single-wall carbon nanotube) by ball-milling and the resulting hybrids also were applied to DSSCs, leading to enhanced power conversion efficiency as compared with that without SWNT.
