Chemical structure dependent electron transport in 9,10-bis(2-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole) derivatives of anthracene

In this work, we present a detailed analysis on electron transport studies of 9,10-bis(2-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole) derivatives of anthracene (OXD-PH, OXD-PTOL and OXD-OTOL). The effect of methyl substitution at ortho (OXD-OTOL) and para position (OXD-PTOL) on the phenyl ring on the electron transport properties was studied and the results were compared with the anthracene derivative without any substitution at the phenyl ring. Electron transport was found to be highly dependent on the methyl substitution and electron mobilities in OXD-PTOL and OXD-OTOL were found to be lower than in OXD-PH. Mobilities were also found to be different for OXD-PTOL and OXD-OTOL, which indicates that the substitution at different places did not have a similar effect on charge transport properties. Thickness dependent trap states were observed for all three molecules with thickness dependent electron mobilities. Electron mobility was found to increase in all three molecules with the decrease in thickness, which favors their use for organic electronic devices and all three molecules had a better electron transport in comparison to Alq(3). These results were explained by the DFT calculation which showed a dihedral structure. The dihedral angle was found to reduce in the anionic form of these molecules. Therefore, these molecules are likely to favor a proper stacking in the solid state form.