Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was performed on Bruker Avance 300 MHz and Varian Inova 500 MHz spectrometers. Deuterated solvents were obtained from Cambridge Isotope Laboratories Inc. Spectra were referenced against the residual proton signals of the solvent according to the literature [
30]. Peak shapes are specified as follows: s (singlet), bs (broad singlet), d (doublet), dd (doublet of doublets), t (triplet), q (quadruplet) and m (multiplet). FT-IR spectroscopy measurements were acquired on a Bruker Alpha FT-IR spectrometer in transmission using undoped Si-wafers as substrates or in ATR-mode using an ALPHA Platinum ATR single reflection diamond ATR module. Silica gel 60 F254 and aluminium oxide 60 F254 (both from Merck) on aluminium sheets were used for thin-layer chromatography. Visualization was done under UV light or by dipping into an aqueous solution of KMnO
4 (0.1 wt%). MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was performed on a Micromass TofSpec 2E time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The instrument was equipped with a nitrogen laser (
λ = 337 nm, operated at a frequency of 5 Hz) and a time lag focusing unit. Ions were generated just above the threshold laser power. Positive ion spectra were recorded in reflection mode with an accelerating voltage of 20 kV. The spectra were externally calibrated with a polyethylene glycol standard. Analysis of data was done with MassLynx-Software V3.5 (Micromass/Waters, Manchester, UK). High-temperature gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurements were performed on an Agilent Technologies PL-GPC220 instrument with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene as eluent with a PLgel MIXED-B LS 300 × 7.5 mm column and a refractive index detector (1.00 mL min
−1, 150 °C, 200 µL injection volume). Thermogravimetric analysis measurements were performed on a Netzsch STA 449 C thermogravimetric analyser using aluminium oxide crucibles in the temperature range between 20 and 550 °C with helium as purge gas (flow rate: 50 mL min
−1) and a heating rate of 10 K min
−1. Absorption spectra of the polymer thin films were recorded on a Shimadzu UV-1800 UV–Vis spectrophotometer in the range of 300–1000 nm. Absorption coefficients were determined from thin films deposited by spin coating from chlorobenzene solutions. Cyclic voltammetry measurements were carried out in acetonitrile using a three-electrode set-up consisting of a platinum (Pt) mesh (counter electrode), an Ag/Ag
+ reference electrode [
31] and an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate (15 × 15 mm, 15 Ω/sq, Kintec) coated with a thin film of PTz4T-2OD as working electrode. The reference electrode was calibrated against a ferrocene–ferrocenium solution (Fc/Fc
+) in deoxygenated and anhydrous acetonitrile using tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (Bu
4NPF
6, 0.1 M) as supporting electrolyte and a scan rate of 50 mV s
−1. The ionization potential (IP) and the electron affinity (EA) were calculated from the onset of the oxidation and the reduction potential (
Eox,
Ered) of the polymer considering the energy level of Fc/Fc
+ to be − 4.8 eV below the vacuum level via
$$ E_{\text{IP}} = - \left[ {\left( {E_{\text{ox}} - E_{{{\text{ox}}\left( {\text{Fc}} \right)}} + 4.8} \right)} \right]\; {\text{eV}} $$
(1)
$$ E_{\text{EA}} = - \left[ {\left( {E_{\text{red}} - E_{{{\text{ox}}\left( {\text{Fc}} \right)}} + 4.8} \right)} \right] \;{\text{eV}} $$
(2)
where
Eox(Fc) is the oxidation potential of ferrocene [
32]. 2D-GIWAXS measurements of polymer thin films spin-coated on silicon substrates were performed on an Anton Paar SAXSpoint 2.0 system equipped with a Dectris 2D EIGER R 1 M hybrid photon counting detector with 75 µm
2 pixel size and using Cu K
α radiation at 50 kV and 1 mA, which was point-collimated using automated scatterless slits. The incidence angle was set to 0.12°, and the exposure time was 10 × 120 s. A spin-coated silver behenate film was used for the angular calibration. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed on an Anton Paar Tosca™ 400 atomic force microscope in tapping mode using Al-coated cantilevers (ARROW-NCR, NanoWorld AG) with a resonance frequency of 285 kHz and a force constant of 42 N m
−1. All measurements were acquired at room temperature under ambient conditions. All calculations and image processing were done with Tosca™ analysis software (V7.4.8341, Anton Paar). Surface profilometry measurements were performed on a Bruker DektakXT stylus surface profiling system equipped with a 12.5-µm-radius stylus tip in order to determine the layer thickness of the thin-film samples. Line scans were recorded over a length of 1000 µm, with a stylus force of 3 mg, and a resolution of 0.33 µm pt
−1. Layer thickness values were derived from two-dimensional surface profiles using Vision 64 software (Bruker).