Conjugated polymers based on naphthalene diimide for organic electronics

Naphthalene diimide (NDI) main chain conjugated polymers have seen a high and steadily increasing level of activity during the last five years. It is mainly the intriguing properties of high electron mobilities and tunable absorption up to the near IR region that have driven researchers to design new polymeric structures having main chain NDIs in the backbone. While the field is still in its infancy, many important results have been obtained and the first structure–function relationships can be drawn. By reviewing synthetic aspects (step growth and chain growth polycondensation techniques), polymeric architectures made, structure formation, and applications in OFET devices and organic photovoltaics, the reader is equipped with some of the key aspects of this important class of materials.