Theoretical studies on the structures and opto-electronic properties of fluorene-based strained semiconductors

[4]Cyclo-9,9-dimethyl-2,7-fluorenylene ([4]CF) was used as a model compound to explore the steric strain effect on the structures and photoelectrical properties of materials. A series of strained cyclic polyfluorene materials, [n]CFs (n=3-8), was designed. It was found that the strain energy decreased and the energy gap increased as the number of n and ring diameter increased. The ionization potential and electronic affinity tended to increase and decrease as the strain energy decreased at the same number of [n]CFs, respectively. With a balance between hole and electron reorganization energies in the system, these compounds demonstrated great potential as ambipolar materials. It was also found that [n]CFs showed an obvious blue shift in their emission spectra wavelengths (λ_em2) as the strain energy decreased. Steric strain provides a powerful tool for the design of multifunctional semiconductors in organic optoelectronics.